Long-Run Growth and the Evolution ofTechnological Knowledge

The long-run evolution of per-capita income exhibits a structural breakoften associated with the Industrial Revolution. We follow Mokyr (2002) and embedthe idea that this structural break reflects a regime switch in the evolution of technologicalknowledge into a dynamic framework, using Airy differential equations todescribe this evolution. We show that under a non-monotonous income-populationequation, the economy evolves from a Malthusian to a Post-Malthusian Regime,with rising per-capita income and a growing population. The switch is broughtabout by an acceleration in the growth of technological knowledge. The demographictransition marks the switch into the Modern Growth Regime, with higherlevels of per-capita income and declining population growth....