A stimulating and inviting tour of modern economics centered on the story of one of its most important breakthroughs.

In 1980, the twenty-four-year-old graduate student Paul Romer tackled one of the oldest puzzles in economics. Eight years later he solved it. This book tells the story of what has come to be called the new growth theory:……

Former Boston Globe columnist David Warsh writes the online newsletter Economic Principals and is presently a fellow of the American Academy in Berlin. His usual address is Somerville, Massachusetts.