European modern economic growth

Abstract

Over the last two centuries, both population and production grew and economic activities were deeply changed. Simon Kuznets summarized this process under the label of 'modern economic growth'. meaning a new economic period characterized by a huge sustained increase in the average standards of living. The first section of this text will consist of a general overview of the main quantitative and qualitative aspects of this process. But, of course, goods and services are produced to satisfy human needs. Thus, we must know how these increased amounts of goods and services were used. This will be the subject of the bulk of the text. We shall review the different components of demand — final consumption and investment; private demand and public demand — and the determinants of their relative proportions, absolute growth and composition. However. contemporary economies do not exist without foreign relations. Foreigners provide goods and services for domestic use and also buy part of domestic production. The study of foreign trade leads to the study of European relations with the rest of the world and their influence on the spread of modern economic growth. This will be the subject of the last section of this text.