About the 'Nobel prize' in economics to Paul M. Romer

Abstract

The theory of “endogenous” growth, led by Paul M. Romer, reawakened the interest of mainstream economics on the effects of technological and institutional variables in long-term development, by including an explanation of productivity growth and justifying the importance of savings and public intervention as determinants of the rate of growth. However, “endogenous” growth models have proved difficult to validate empirically and seem particularly exposed to the criticisms of excessive formalize and lack of conceptual clarity that Romer himself has been recently leveling against the rest of marginalist macroeconomics.