Chapter 1 focuses on the narratological strategies that turned a set of mathematical equations into an economic model in Robert Solow’s “Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth,” the article behind the classic reference “Solow 1956.” In the first place, the paper was all about the setup of a smoothly working neoclassical growing economy, which consisted in the interplay of algebraic equations, diagrammatic visualizations, and verbal accounts. The article revolved around this artifact, made (up) by the narrator figure and, at the same time, to be used and experimented with by others, independently of its construction history. While denoting the artifact “a model” throughout, references to a world beyond its narrow boundaries were vague. Straightforward was its function as an exemplar for how proper economic reasoning should look. The text presented its model as improving a so-called precursor, the “Harrod–Domar model.” In this way, it contributed to canonizing earlier dynamic theory with its focus on instability and crisis and set the course for an angled historiography of growth theory that downplays the differences in approaches and objects until the present day.

This chapter studies economic growth. We first introduce two versions of the Solow model. The first is without technological progress. We show that there would be no sustained growth in per capita terms in a steady state. The second Solow model assumes exogenous technological progress, which makes sustained growth possible in a steady state. Next, we introduce an endogenous growth model that produces sustained growth without assuming exogenous technological progress. We then study how to account for the contribution of factor accumulation and technological progress to growth. Finally, we introduce two verbal theories. The first is Schumpeter’s creative destruction. The second is the Lewis model of economic development.