The Sustainability of Economic Growth Based on Consumption. The Case of Romania

Abstract

The post-crisis European economy is characterised by slow rates of growth. The consequences of the Great Recession which followed the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers, determined that, on the 15^th of September 2008, all the actors of the global economic scene assess the symptoms, dissect the causes, seek explanations on a complex phenomenon both in its essence and evolution. Extensive research showed that the recent financial and economic crisis is based on the structural problems of the global economy, therefore returning to a sustainable growth requires the clarification of the way in which the multiple factors have contributed to the collapse registered at the end of the first decade of the XXI^st century. We have reconsidered the theories and models of the economic growth, among the controversial issues being that of the sustainability of economic growth based on consumption at the expense of investment.