Modern industrialization is often dated as having its origins in the Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain in the 18th century and spread to other parts of Europe and North America in the early 19th century. Industrialization had occurred by the end of the 19th century in some southern European countries and in Japan, and during the 20th century, particularly after World War II (1939-1945), in eastern Asia. Today, Japan, the United States, and Great Britain are among the world's major industrialized countries.

The process of industrialization usually includes a movement from rural to urban living and a shift from home to factory production. Increased mechanization in agriculture generally leads to increased agricultural productivity and en

In recent years economists have attempted to explain the process of industrialization within a framework of "catch-up" growth. These theories set forth the premise that late industrializers can imitate technologies already in existence in the leading industrial countries, allowing them to undertake economic development and catch up to the per capita productivity levels of the leaders.

Russian-born economist Alexander Gerschenkron introduced the concept of relative backwardness, in which the development path of a late industrializing country will, by the virtue of its backwardness, differ fundamentally from that of the leading industrial country. He theorized that the late industrializer displays the following characteristics: a rapid and intense growth of industrial output; an emphasis on producer goods (goods used to make other products) rather than consumer goods (products sold directly to consumers); a stress on large-scale plant and enterprise; a reliance on technological borrowing, and probably on financial assistance from abroad; importance of the government as the promoter of industrial dev

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