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The study of causal determinants of economic growth and development has long aroused an intense interest amongst economists. Until recently, the heart of the debate has mainly focused on the role of capital accumulation, either physical or human, on the impact of institutional or geographical factors, on innovation and technological progress, or on the significance of other growth-promoting factors such as ideas, and even religious and cultural aspects. In this article, we focus on two different "biological hypotheses" that have been recently made by two prominent cliometricians, Robert William Fogel (post 1982) and Oded Galor (since 2013). Indeed, one of the most interesting aspects of both Fogel's and Galor's analysis of the dynamics of economic growth is that they rest upon biological explanations. More specifically, Fogel developed a physiological theory of economic growth, named "techno-physio evolution", which is based on the synergism between physiological capital accumulation and technological progress. On the other hand, Galor has recently engaged in the search for deeper determinants of economic development, i.e. genetic factors. The main objective of this paper is to track down the genesis of these researches and to analize the epistemological stances which support these approaches.

Robert William Fogel, Oded Galor, Cliometrics of Growth, Biology & Economics, Economic methodology, Epistemology