I should have been clearer in the summary: the hypothesis refers to the growth rate of total economic output (GDP) rather than output-per-person (GDP per capita). Output-per-person is typically thought to have been pretty stagnant until roughly the Industrial Revolution, although just how stagnant it was is controversial. Total output definitely did grow substantially, though.
What l’m calling the Hyperbolic Growth Hypothesis is at least pretty mainstream. Michael Kremer’s paper is pretty classic (it’s been cited about 2000 times) and some growth theory textbooks repeat its main claim. Although I don’t have a great sense of exactly how widely accepted it is.
I should have been clearer in the summary: the hypothesis refers to the growth rate of total economic output (GDP) rather than output-per-person (GDP per capita). Output-per-person is typically thought to have been pretty stagnant until roughly the Industrial Revolution, although just how stagnant it was is controversial. Total output definitely did grow substantially, though.
What l’m calling the Hyperbolic Growth Hypothesis is at least pretty mainstream. Michael Kremer’s paper is pretty classic (it’s been cited about 2000 times) and some growth theory textbooks repeat its main claim. Although I don’t have a great sense of exactly how widely accepted it is.