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Early Literacy Achievements, Population Density, and the Transition to Modern Growth

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Author Info
Raouf Boucekkine
David de la Croix
Dominique Peeters

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Abstract

The transition from economic stagnation to sustained growth is often modeled thanks to "population-induced" productivity improvements, which are assumed rather than derived from primary assumptions. In this paper the effect of population on productivity is derived from optimal behavior. More precisely, both the number and location of education facilities are chosen optimally by municipalities. Individuals determine their education investment depending on the distance to the nearest school, and also on technical progress and longevity. In this setting, higher population density enables the set-up costs of additional schools to be covered, opening the possibility to reach higher educational levels. Using counterfactual experiments we find that one-third of the rise in literacy can be directly attributed to the effect of density, and one-sixth is linked to higher longevity. Moreover, the effect of population density in the model is consistent with the available evidence for England, where it is shown that schools were established at a high rate over the period 1540-1620. (JEL: O41, I21, R12, J11) (c) 2007 by the European Economic Association.

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File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/JEEA.2007.5.1.183
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Article provided by MIT Press in its journal Journal of the European Economic Association.

Volume (Year): 5 (2007)
Issue (Month): 1 (03)
Pages: 183-226
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Handle: RePEc:tpr:jeurec:v:5:y:2007:i:1:p:183-226

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Raouf Boucekkine & David de la Croix & Omar Licandro, . "vintage human capital, demographic trends and endogenous growth," Working Papers 2000-02, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Ciccone, Antonio & Hall, Robert E, 1996. "Productivity and the Density of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 54-70, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Oded Galor & Omer Moav, 2002. "Natural Selection And The Origin Of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(4), pages 1133-1191, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Oded Galor, 2004. "From Stagnation to Growth: Unified Growth Theory," GE, Growth, Math methods 0409003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Nils-Petter Lagerlöf, 2006. "The Galor-Weil Model Revisited: A Quantitative Exercise," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 9(1), pages 116-142, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Ciccone, Antonio, 2002. "Agglomeration effects in Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 213-227, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Raouf Boucekkine & David de la Croix & Omar Licandro, 2003. "Early Mortality Declines at the Dawn of Modern Growth," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 105(3), pages 401-418, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Gary S. Becker & Edward L. Glaeser & Kevin M. Murphy, 1999. "Population and Economic Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 145-149, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Thomas J. Holmes, 2005. "The Location of Sales Offices and the Attraction of Cities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(3), pages 551-581, June.
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  11. Bartel, Ann P & Lichtenberg, Frank R, 1987. "The Comparative Advantage of Educated Workers in Implementing New Technology," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(1), pages 1-11, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Kelley, Allen C. & Schmidt, Robert M., 1995. "Aggregate Population and Economic Growth Correlations: The Role of the Components of Demographic Change," Working Papers 95-37, Duke University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  13. Gary D. Hansen & Edward C. Prescott, 2002. "Malthus to Solow," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1205-1217, September. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Matthias Doepke, 2004. "Accounting for Fertility Decline During the Transition to Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 347-383, 09. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Lubomira Anastassova, 2006. "Productivity Differences and Agglomeration Across Districts of Great Britain," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp289, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economic Institute, Prague. [Downloadable!]
  16. Nicolini, Esteban A., 2004. "Mortality, interest rates, investment, and agricultural production in 18th century England," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 130-155, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Hazan, Moshe & Zoabi, Hosny, 2005. "Does Longevity Cause Growth?," CEPR Discussion Papers 4931, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Raouf, BOUCEKKINE & David, DE LA CROIX & Dominique, PEETERS, 2007. "Disentangling the demographic determinants of the English take-off : 1530-1860," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2007019, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques. [Downloadable!]
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  2. DE LA CROIX, David & LINDH, Thomas & MALMBERG, Bo, 2006. "Growth and longevity from the industrial revolution to the future of an aging society," CORE Discussion Papers 2006064, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE). [Downloadable!]
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  3. Frateschi, Carlofilippo & Lazzaro, Elisabetta & Palma Martos, Luis, 2009. "A Comparative Econometric Analysis of Museum Attendance by Locals and Foreigners: The Cases of Padua and Seville/Un análisis econométrico comparado de las asistencias a los museos por parte del púb," Estudios de Economía Aplicada, Estudios de Economía Aplicada, vol. 27, pages 177-198, Abril. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Azomahou, Théophile & Boucekkine, Raouf & Diene, Bity, 2008. "A Closer Look at the Relationship Between Life Expectancy and Economic Growth," UNU-MERIT Working Paper Series 027, United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Azomahou, Theophile & Mishra, Tapas, 2009. "Stochastic environmental effects, demographic variation, and economic growth," UNU-MERIT Working Paper Series 016, United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology. [Downloadable!]
  6. Joerg Baten & Jan Zanden, 2008. "Book production and the onset of modern economic growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 217-235, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Oded Galor, 2009. "2008 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture –Comparative Economic Development: Insights from Unified Growth Theory," Working Papers 2009-10, Brown University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Raouf, BOUCEKKINE & Bity, DIENE & Theophile, AZOMAHOU, 2006. "The Growth economics of epidemics," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2006021, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques. [Downloadable!]
  9. Holger Strulik & Jacob Weisdorf, 2008. "Population, food, and knowledge: a simple unified growth theory," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 195-216, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Guido Cozzi & Silvia Galli, 2009. "Upstream Innovation Protection: Common Law Evolution and the Dynamics of Wage Inequality," Working Papers 2009_20, Department of Economics, University of Glasgow. [Downloadable!]
  11. David, DE LA CROIX, 2008. "Adult longevity and economic take-off : from Malthus to Ben-Porath," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2008031, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Michael Bar & Oksana Leukhina, . "Demographic Transition and Industrial Revolution: A Macroeconomic Investigation," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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