Growth Theories Revisited: Enduring Questions with Changing Answers

Three epistemologically distinct scientific approaches have dominated the relevant theoretical and empirical analysis on the determinants and dynamic processes of aggregate economic growth. These refer to (i) formal growth modeling approaches, (ii) evolutionary economics constructed on elements from appreciative theorizing, and (iii) holistic approaches of reasoned history about growth dynamics. Each one of these approaches is founded on quite distinct scientific paradigms and working hypotheses. They thus reach a different "class" of scientific conclusions and of applied interpretations. Explaining the reasons and nature of such differences as well as the areas of their complementarity constitutes a major challenge in reviewing the state of our understanding as to how socioeconomic systems experience alternative growth paths, reproduce themselves and change over time. Furthermore, the closer these three approaches come to reflect the actual complexity of aggregate growth dynamics, the more difficult it becomes to establish analytical tractability and to reach more general conclusions