Overall, the differences with Veblen's and Kaldor's understanding and application of the concept must not be underestimated (Berger, S. (2009), The Foundations of Non-Equilibrium Economics: The Principle of Circular and Cumulative Causation, New York: Routledge).
In the characteristics that are relevant to the development process of an economy Myrdal mentioned the availability of natural resources, the historical traditions of production activity, national cohesion, religions and ideologies, economic, social and political leadership.
Among the further results of these events, fewer local taxes are collected in a time when more social services is required and a vicious downward cumulative cycle is started and a trend towards a lower level of development will be further reinforced.
A status of non-equilibrium is shaped, or as he writes: "The notion of stable equilibrium is normally a false analogy to choose when constructing a theory to explain the changes in a social system.
His aim was to submit ‘broad generalisations, as a ‘theory’ is permitted to be, in order to grasp the social facts as they organize themselves into a pattern when viewed under a bird's-eye perspective Into this general vision, the specific characteristic (Myrdal, G. 1957, Economic Theory and Underdeveloped Regions, London: University Paperbacks, Methuen).
Myrdal developed further the circular cumulative causation concept and stated that it makes different assumptions from that of stable equilibrium on what can be considered the most important forces guiding the evolution of social processes.
He wrote that by this term he meant a collection of devices, like ‘the concepts, models, and theories we use, and the way in which we select and arrange observations and present the results of our research’.