Intro to the Solow Model of Economic Growth

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Here's a quick growth conundrum, to get you thinking.

Consider two countries at the close of World War II—Germany and Japan. At that point, they've both suffered heavy population losses. Both countries have had their infrastructure devastated. So logically, the losing countries should’ve been in a post-war economic quagmire.

So why wasn't that the case at all?

Following WWII, Germany and Japan were growing twice, sometimes three times, the rate of the winning countries, such as the United States.

Similarly, think of this quandary: in past videos, we explained to you that one of the keys to economic growth is a country's institutions. With that in mind, think of China's growth rate. China’s been growing at a breakneck pace—reported at 7 to 10% per year.

On the other hand, countries like the United States, Canada, and France have been growing at about 2% per year. Aside from their advantages in physical and human capital, there's no question that the institutions in these countries are better than those in China.

So, just as we said about Germany and Japan—why the growth?

To answer that, we turn to today's video on the Solow model of economic growth.

The Solow model was named after Robert Solow, the 1987 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Among other things, the Solow model helps us understand the nuances and dynamics of growth.
The model also lets us distinguish between two types of growth: catching up growth and cutting edge growth. As you'll soon see, a country can grow much faster when it's catching up, as opposed to when it's already growing at the cutting edge.

That said, this video will allow you to see a simplified version of the model. It'll describe growth as a function of a few specific variables: labor, education, physical capital, and ideas.

So watch this new installment, get your feet wet with the Solow model, and next time, we'll drill down into one of its variables: physical capital.

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00:00 Growth Puzzles
01:54 Solow Model of Economic Growth
02:27 What is an Economic Model?
02:56 Production Function – Labor, Education, Capital, & Ideas
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Can we please take a moment to appreciate and thank not just the smart Professor in this video but also the video/sound editors/creators, animators etc who make this concept/theory so easy to understand. The visuals are amazing. Took me just 5 min to get Solow Model while my University charges me £12K a year to teach this yet fails to.

ABC
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When I am looking for a quick video to explain uni concepts, I go straight to videos like this. Never to videos with numbers and a whiteboard.

sullyflynn
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came back here to upvote all the videos since it saved me on my econ final lmao thank u !!

randomrold
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These videos are incredibly enlightening and easy to follow. Great job.

skj
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I have an exam tomorrow and this helped cover the basics of the Solow Growth model well. Thanks :)

happyhans
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Amazing Video, props to the Profs but also to the editors as this video is still amazing 8 years later.

YannHutmacher
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THANKS - I am a student of Dr. Feilcke (Prof. Weizsäcker) who is a genius in pedagogics and your videos motivate me even more to understand the topics from different points of view.

mvfplanet
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These videos are the best guide lines…well explained and enlightening

tosinz
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Thank you for explaining the model. This video helps so much.

HenryKao-ht
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I am really thankful for your sincere efforts Gentlemen.

johnsamy
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Just discovered this and am sooo happy ! Thank you so much !

rammusfi
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This whole series about macroeconomics is superb congratulations for the ]GREAT work

tomasnobrega
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Wow, just awesome, can't wait to catch the rest of the series! Subscribed!!

mobime
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Video is super concise and easy to follow, well thought through. Well done!

alexsteven
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Great introduction and explanation of something I was having trouble with in a uni course. Thanks

nadinemcgrath
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This video make the model easy to understand for me ...thanks i will able to explain it in my class presentation..👍👌

vinitapundir
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I wish you were my Econ instructor, Thank you so much!

fazsav
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Great animations! and of course, content. Clear speaker.

Friedrich
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I'm from Viet Nam but your representations are easy for me to understand.I'm very grateful for your devotion.Hope you finish all of videos of macroeconomic soon.Thank you !

skye
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With videos of this high quality, I anticipate that eventually our ignorance will be...so low!

But in all seriousness, thank you so much for making these!

PunmasterSTP