Technology is the only perpetual source of economic growth, since natural resource utilization has limits.

Judge against mainstream growth economics as of 2023. True: the standard view (e.g. the Solow and Romer endogenous growth models) holds that sustained long-run per-capita growth comes only from technological progress, with factor accumulation and natural resources subject to diminishing returns or limits. Mostly true: mainstream theory treats technology/ideas as the main long-run driver, but also credits closely related sources (institutions, human capital, population growth for aggregate output) that partly qualify 'only'. Mixed: economists are genuinely divided, with substantial accepted models in which other factors sustain perpetual growth. Mostly false: the literature widely recognises other perpetual sources on an equal footing (e.g. human capital accumulation in Lucas-type models) and treats technology as one of several. False: mainstream economics rejects technology as the long-run growth driver.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 C H A P T E R 1: Economic Growth in Historical Perspective Princeton University Press (book chapter; authors are academic economists)

   “In Solow, growth of per capita income occurs only because of exogenous technical change. Modern growth theory, by contrast, attempts to explain economic growth endogenously.”

2. E2 C H A P T E R 1: Economic Growth in Historical Perspective Princeton University Press (book chapter; authors are academic economists)

   “Perpetual growth can also arise due to productive public capital or investment in public infrastructure. This line of research was initiated by Arrow and Kurz (1970), who, however, only considered exogenous growth models. Barro (1990) demonstrated that this approach may also generate sustained per capita growth in the long run.”

3. E3 C H A P T E R 1: Economic Growth in Historical Perspective Princeton University Press (book chapter; authors are academic economists)

   “These permanent growth effects of human capital are present in the models by Lucas (1988), Romer (1990), Grossmann and Helpman (1991), and Aghion and Howitt (1992).”

4. E4 Endogenous Growth Theory Explained: Romer's Nonrival Ideas, Lucas's Human Capital, AK Models, Aghion–Howitt and Scale-Effect Critiques campusdown wiki · 26 October 2026

   “He proposed a "semi-endogenous" model in which ideas become harder to produce as knowledge grows, tying long-run growth to population growth.”

The evidence shows that technology is the only source of per-capita growth in the Solow model [E1], and that several models link permanent growth to public capital, human capital or population growth [E2, E3, E4]. It does not show whether mainstream economics treats technology as the main driver or as one of several sources on an equal footing, and that is the difference between the criteria's verdict levels.