Theory of Economic Growth [ electronic resource ] /
by Michio Morishima.
- Oxford Scholarship Online, 2003
Discusses economic growth within the framework of the theory of equilibrium. Attempts on the one hand to resolve much of the controversy on growth that results from differences in assumptions made by various authors and, on the other hand, to make a contribution to the theory of dynamic economics. Practical problems are not discussed, and the economy dealt with is isolated from foreign countries and is provided with a knowledge of industrial arts that does not change throughout the time horizon concerned. Factors such as public spending, foreign trade, technical improvement, and monetary policies are, therefore, ignored, even though they are usually important in determining the actual rate of economic growth. In the first half of the book, decisions regarding investment are made by private enterprises either in the neoclassical or Keynesian manner, while in the second half the planning authorities are responsible for directing firms so that they invest society's savings in such a way that the economy will progress along a path of efficient or optimal growth. The book is divided into four parts that discuss prototype models of economic growth, models resulting from the von Neumann model, models after the ‘von Neumann revolution’, and further model developments. An appendix is included on the von Neumann equilibrium, which aims at a clearer comprehension of Chs. 6 and 7.