Towards a Unified Theory of Economic Growth: Oded Galor on the Transition from Malthusian Stagnation to Modern Economic Growth

Abstract

Oded Galor, Professor of Economics at Brown University, is one of the world’s leading and most imaginative growth theorists. Throughout his career, his numerous publications have focussed on growth-related issues such as labour migration, international trade, income distribution, demography, human capital accumulation, and discrete dynamical systems. Recently his work has emphasised the need for a unified theory of growth that incorporates an evolutionary perspective and can account for the transition from ‘Malthusian stagnation’ to the modern growth regime. Brian Snowdon provides, as background, a brief survey of the new and exciting literature in this area and in the interview that follows, discusses with Professor Galor his innovative approach to explaining some of the most profound and difficult questions in human history, and the progress that is being made in building a coherent unified theory of long-run growth.