THE "STATIONARY STATE" IN CLASSICAL ECONOMICS

Abstract

This paper intends to analyze the idea of the "Stationary State" in the sphere of classical economics, particularly in the works of Smith, Ricardo, and Stuart Mill. These authors focused their attention on the question of long run economic growth, and on the ever present possibility that this growth might be interrupted. The "Stationary State" follows from the logic itself- of the classical conception of growth: the progressive state runs its course, necessarily, into the "Stationary State".