Growth Theory

Boyan Jovanovic ()

No 7468, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Growth theory offers two plausible explanations of growth. One stresses the supply of productive ideas and holds that the industrial revolution had to wait until we had thought up enough inventions to lift us into the era of modern growth. It says, roughly, that the growth of living standards depends on the growth of science. The other explanation stresses incentives: Growth could begin only when hard work and business enterprise were free of heavy taxation, of social stigma and of other interference by the government and the church. The first branch of theory is well developed; it is the second that now challenges the growth economist to explain not just growth, but the evolution of political and religious institutions and social attitudes as well.

JEL-codes: O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-dge and nep-ino
Note: PR
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published as Jovanovic, Boyan. “Economic Growth: Theory” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w7468.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:nbr:nberwo:7468

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w7468

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().