Economic growth, which is the subject of research in this final thesis, is important for society because it enables an increase in the total income and wealth of society over time and a better standard of living. It can be achieved in various ways, such as increasing productivity, improving technology and innovation, and many other ways. Due to its importance, it is the subject of study by many scientists. To this day, numerous theories have been developed that try to explain it. In this final paper, the focus is on the study of classical theories of economic growth. The classical period is considered to begin with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and last until approximately the death of John Stuart Mill in 1873. The fundamental idea of classical economics is to stand for the freedom of the market. Classical economists believed that economic growth was the result of an increase in the amount of labor and capital, that is, an increase in exogenously generated productivity. Some of the economists of that period did not agree with the classical economists about this, and Karl Marx, Joseph Schumpeter and John Maynard Keynes are considered to be the earliest critics of classical economics, whose basic ideas will be elaborated in this paper. They argued that the value of a product cannot be explained only by the amount of labor invested in it, but that it is important to include the social value of the product and some other factors. They focused on the worker as a key source of wealth in society (K. Marx), the importance of innovation (J. Schumpeter) and state intervention in overcoming economic crises (J. M. Keynes). The theories of classical economists laid the foundations for understanding economic growth, but the criticisms of their theories are also extremely important because they served as a basis for the development of new ideas related to economic growth.