Rostov 19 16 was born in new york. 1938 received a master's degree in literature from Belial College of Oxford University, and 1939 received a doctorate in philosophy from Yale University. Since 1940, he has been a professor at Columbia University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Texas at Austin, teaching economic history, economics and history. He has served as Assistant to the Executive Secretary of the European Community, Deputy to the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs, Consultant and Chairman of the the State Council Policy Planning Committee, and Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

Rostow's most important academic research achievement is to put forward the theory of economic growth stage. He tried to explain the process of economic history with economic theory, and divided social development into six stages: (1) traditional social stage, (2) preparation stage for takeoff, (3) self-sustained growth stage after takeoff, (4) maturity stage, (5) high mass consumption stage and (6) pursuit of quality of life stage. From the fifth stage, status consumption began to reflect ideology and social value orientation, and began to form a stable middle social group-the middle class. He used this theory to replace Marx's division of historical development stages of human society. He is convinced that his theory explains the industrialization process experienced by western countries and puts forward a series of strategic choices that a country will encounter in the process of economic growth. In addition, he also actively studied American foreign policy.