Abstract: This paper suggests the principle of non- equilibrium, self- excitation and self- regulation in economic development. Its primary contents include the following: All realistic economic systems are non-equilibrium,nonlinear and open systems, under the cross affect of self-excitation- increasing mechanism and self-regulation-coordinating mechanism , the development of these economic systems is a sustained process transformed from lower economic form to a higher one,along an undulant non-equilibrium road. The result of non-equilibrium development creates the potential difference among regions (or departments), without potential difference, economy will not be able to develop. Appropriate potential difference is the force of exciting economic development, but excessive potential difference will block up the economic development. When the non-equDibrium degree of potential difference is controlled within a just right range,resources can be exploited and economy can be developed satisfactorilyAccording to this principle, the authors established a cybernetics model and completed a pragmatic analysis of the relation between regional economic development and highway traffic in Shangqiu Prefecture of the Henan Province.