Introduction

Without the fundamental discoveries by Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, today’s theoretical physics would be severely deficient. In macroeconomics, John M. Keynes and Robert M. Solow occupy similar positions as Newton, Einstein and Planck in physics. John M. Keynes was first to propose a coherent macroeconomic theory, and R. M. Solow laid foundations for the today’s theory of economic growth. Economic growth was first addressed by the classical school of economy in the 18th century. However, that topic aroused the deepest interest in the 20th and 21st centuries when the phenomenon of increase in the value of output produced in an economy and the determinants of that increase became mathematically formalized. The Keynesian economic growth models were heavily influenced by the Great Depression in the 1930s. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.