This paper extends the learning-by-doing model of Alwyn Young (1991), which assumes bounded learning-by-doing in each industry and knowledge spillovers, from two perspectives. First, it introduces physical capital as another factor of production in addition to labor. Second, it takes into...

Abstract: The first challenge for economic growth theory is to understand the transition from stagnation to growth at the time of the Industrial Revolution and in particular to identify the main factor(s) that triggered the take-off. Doing so also helps to understand why there are poor and rich...

The transition from economic stagnation to sustained growth is often modelled thanks to “population-induced” productivity improvements, which are assumed rather than derived from primary assumptions. In this paper the effect of population on productivity is derived from optimal behavior....