IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/hop/hopeec/v46y2014i5p229-251.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From Exploratory Modeling to Technical Expertise: Solow’s Growth Model as a Multipurpose Design

Author

Listed:
  • Verena Halsmayer

Abstract

Combining concrete policy-oriented modeling strategies of World War II with what was received as traditional neoclassical theory, in 1956 Robert Solow constructed a simple, clean, and smooth-functioning “design” model that served many different purposes. As a working object, it enabled experimentation with utopian long-run equilibrium growth. As an instrument of measurement, it was applied to time-series data. As a prototype, it was supposed to feed into larger-scale econometric models that were, in turn, thought of as technologies for policy advice. Used as a teaching device, Solow’s design became a medium of “spreading the technique” and one of the symbols for neoclassical macroeconomics that soon became associated with MIT.

Suggested Citation

  • Verena Halsmayer, 2014. "From Exploratory Modeling to Technical Expertise: Solow’s Growth Model as a Multipurpose Design," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 46(5), pages 229-251, Supplemen.
    • Handle: RePEc:hop:hopeec:v:46:y:2014:i:5:p:229-251
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hope.dukejournals.org/content/46/suppl_1/229.full.pdf+html
    File Function: link to full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Quentin Couix, 2019. "Natural resources in the theory of production: the Georgescu-Roegen/Daly versus Solow/Stiglitz controversy," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 1341-1378, November.
    2. Nicol`o Cangiotti & Mattia Sensi, 2020. "Exact solutions for a Solow-Swan model with non-constant returns to scale," Papers 2008.05875, arXiv.org.
    3. Dorian Jullien, 2019. "Interviews and the Historiographical Issues of Oral Sources," Post-Print halshs-01651062, HAL.
    4. Juan Pablo Castilla, 2020. "To Kill a Black Swan: The Credibility Revolution at CEDE, 2000-2018," Documentos CEDE 18366, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    5. Dorian Jullien, 2018. "Practices of Using Interviews in History of Contemporary Economics: A Brief Survey," Post-Print halshs-01651053, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    MIT; growth theory; Robert Solow;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hop:hopeec:v:46:y:2014:i:5:p:229-251. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Center for the History of Political Economy Webmaster (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php?viewby=journal&productid=45614 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.