Economic growth is the increase in the amount of the goods and services produced by an economy over time. It is conventionally measured as the percent rate of increase in real gross domestic product, or real GDP. Growth is usually calculated in real terms, i.e. inflation-adjusted terms, in order to obviate the distorting effect of inflation on the price of the goods produced. In economics, "economic growth" or "economic growth theory" typically refers to growth of potential output, i.e., production at "full employment", which is caused by growth in aggregate demand or observed output.
As an area of study, economic growth is generally distinguished from development economics. The former is primarily the study of how countries can advance their economies. The latter is the study of the economic aspects of the development process in low-income countries.
As economic growth is measured as the annual percent change of gross domestic product (GDP), it has all the advantages and drawbacks of that measure.
Read more about Economic Growth: Institutions and Growth, Human Capital and Growth, Inequality and Economic Growth, Quality of Life, Negative Effects of Economic Growth, Prominent Growth Economists
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“The reality is that zero defects in products plus zero pollution plus zero risk on the job is equivalent to maximum growth of government plus zero economic growth plus runaway inflation.”
—Dixie Lee Ray (b. 1924)
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—Anica Vesel Mander, U.S. author and feminist, and Anne Kent Rush (b. 1945)
“The wind of change is blowing through the continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.”
—Harold MacMillan (1894–1986)