In the past two decades of the new millennium, a significant number of European countries strive to achieve sustainable economic development. The process of industrialization becomes a priority of developing countries, which leads to the neglect of agricultural production. The subject of this research is analysis of development trends in the countries of the European Union, emphasizing the importance of the primary sector for overall economic development. Developing countries have a low-paid and unproductive labor force in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, which transits to the industrial sector. The progress of ICT sector is not implemented in the branches of the primary sector, which further weakens the position of agricultural producers. This research aim si to confirm the hypothesis that the industrial revolution is not achievable, if there is no support through the improvement of the primary sector. In the literature, this situation is defined as ,,Ricardo's trap“ or ,,Ricardo's development model“.The key result of this research is obtained through regression analysis, based on statistical confirmation of the influence of the primary sector on the development of the industrial sector. A positive correlation was detected, which indicates that the growth of the gross added value of the primary sector causes an increase of the gross added value of the industrial sector, and vice versa. The key conclusion of this research suggests that the absence of investment in the primary sector can represent a significant limitation in the process of comprehensive development of national economies.
Đorđe Kotarac (Mon,) studied this question.