I also like the Solow-Swan model. But if I’m evaluating “how can economic policy help growth?”, I can hardly do that from within an idealized economic model.
I disagree. Idealized models can help by answering what happens when we intervene on one of the variables. For example, there are policies that can increase the national savings rate, and thus increasing capital accumulation and per capita output (like the 401k). The Solow-Swan model doesn’t directly state how to do this, but you can endogenize the savings rate; the most famous attempt is the Ramsey–Cass–Koopmans model, which shows how households make tradeoffs between savings and consumption, and helps us see we might intervene to affect the savings rate.
my (implicit) model wasn’t “capitalist->more growth”, it included considerations like “weaker property rights decreases individual incentive to invest
FWIW, I think “strong property rights” is the defining feature of what most people consider “capitalism” so I don’t see these as separate models.
I disagree. Idealized models can help by answering what happens when we intervene on one of the variables. For example, there are policies that can increase the national savings rate, and thus increasing capital accumulation and per capita output (like the 401k). The Solow-Swan model doesn’t directly state how to do this, but you can endogenize the savings rate; the most famous attempt is the Ramsey–Cass–Koopmans model, which shows how households make tradeoffs between savings and consumption, and helps us see we might intervene to affect the savings rate.
FWIW, I think “strong property rights” is the defining feature of what most people consider “capitalism” so I don’t see these as separate models.