From Stagnation to Growth: Unified Growth Theory

Oded Galor

No 4581, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This Paper examines the process of development from an epoch of Malthusian stagnation to a state of sustained economic growth. The analysis focuses on recently advanced unified growth theories that capture the intricate evolution of income per capita, technology, and population over the course of human history. Deciphering the underlying forces that triggered the transition from stagnation to growth and the associated phenomenon of the great divergence in income per capita across countries has been widely viewed as one of the most significant challenges facing researchers in the field of growth and development. The inconsistency of non-unified growth models with the main characteristics of the process of development across most of human history induced growth theorists to advance an alternative theory that captures in a single unified framework the epoch of Malthusian stagnation, the modern era of sustained economic growth, and the recent transition between these distinct regimes. Unified growth theory reveals the underlying micro foundations that are consistent with the growth process over the entire history of the human species, enhancing the confidence in the viability of the theory, its predictions and policy implications for the growth process of less developed economies.

Keywords: Growth; Technological progress; Demographic transition; Income distribution; Human capital; Evolution; Natural selection; Malthusian stagnation; Class structure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J11 J13 O11 O14 O33 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (136)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP4581 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Chapter: From Stagnation to Growth: Unified Growth Theory (2005)
Working Paper: From Stagnation to Growth:Unified Growth Theory (2004)
Working Paper: From Stagnation to Growth: Unified Growth Theory (2004)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4581

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP4581

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().