Endogenous growth: A knife edge or the razor's edge?

According to much of the recent growth literature, the dramatic worldwide decline in fertility currently taking place should ultimately lead to global economic stagnation. This pessimistic prediction is not shared by the original innovation-based growth literature. In recent years, however, this strand of the literature has been criticized for resting on implausible knife-edge assumptions and for its inconsistency with available evidence. In this paper, we argue that this conclusion is unwarranted.