Competing explanations of economic growth

Jonas G. Lipski ()

Chapter 5 in Evaluating Competing Explanatory Games in Economics, 2025, pp 150-195 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In this chapter, I compare the “institution-free” tradition of explaining economic growth to New Institutional Economics, with a specific focus on Douglass North's contributions. The most important difference between the two approaches is the acceptance of (radical) idealizations as necessary in the institution-free tradition and the mathematical approach towards representation, versus the emphasis on realism and natural language in New Institutional Economics. While both have advantages and disadvantages, I conclude that New Institutional economists are correct in their emphasis on realism and that the comparative advantages of mathematical modeling and idealization in explaining growth are overestimated.

Keywords: Explanations of Economic Growth; Douglass North; Philosophy of Economics; New Institutional Economics; Neoclassical Theory; Unified Growth Theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035357512
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