The Classical School Economy

Most economists of the classical school, however, writing at the beginning of the industrial revolution, thought that no growth could be sustained because any production would, according to them, inexorably converge towards a stable condition. Thus the case of David Ricardo, who was the steady state produces diminishing returns of arable land, Thomas Malthus or to which bound him to his "principle of population".

However, Adam Smith, through his study of the effects of productivity induced by the development of the division of labor, hinted at the possibility of uninterrupted growth. And Jean-Baptiste Say wrote: "Note also that it is impossible to assign a limit to the power obtained for the man in the right form of capital, because it can raise capital over time, the Savings and industry, have no limits.