This talk is a review of the current status of the luminosity function for broad-lined unobscured AGN, along with implications for triggering and black hole growth, and a look at the unresolved issues. It is inspired by the 50th anniversary in 2013 of Schmidt’s discovery of the nature of the quasar redshift to reflect on the state of knowledge and context of early determinations of the quasar luminosity function vs. those today. The rapid evolution of the high-z luminosity function holds some promise for differentiating the physical processes responsible for triggering ? mergers, “cold flow”, or instabilities within the hosts. More data are still needed, particularly to characterize the faint end of AGN activity.