From Malthusian Stagnation to Modern Growth

This paper examines the historical evolution of the relationship between population growth, technological change, and the standard of living. It considers several unified models that encompass the transition between three distinct regimes that have characterized the process of economic development: ``The Malthusian Regime," ``The Post-Malthusian Regime," and the ``Modern Growth Regime". We view the unified modeling of this long transition process - from thousand of years of Malthusian stagnation through the demographic transition to modern growth - as one of the most significant research challenges facing economists interested in growth and development.