Since the very beginnings of economics as a science, which might be dated from Ibn Khalduns Introduction to History (1377), the challenge of making societies escape from poverty and attain some degree of prosperity has always been, and will remain, a fundamental issue. It was and it is still...

The famous 1956 contribution by Robert Solow was always thought to be central to positive, or descriptive, economic growth theory. We show that it is also at the core of optimal growth, because the Fisher equation of competitive equilibrium is nothing short of an Euler equation; it corresponds...

We introduce a formula for the optimal savings rate in an economy driven by an investment policy reflecting competitive equilibrium. The reasonable numbers generated by the formula should be of help not only to assess our present situation but also to prepare our future. Moreover, this chapter...