The adoption of agriculture during the Neolithic triggered the first demographic explosion in history. When fertility returned to its original level, early farmers found themselves more poorly nourished than hunter-gatherers and working longer hours to make ends meet. We develop a dynamic, price-theoretic model that rationalizes these events: in the short-run, fertility and utility increase; in the long-run, consumption, leisure, and utility fall below their initial levels. This, we argue, can be attributed to the rise in child labor productivity that followed the adoption of agriculture. Counter-intuitively, an increase in the productivity of children may lead to a permanent reduction in utility.
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Paper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number
10069.
Find related papers by JEL classification: Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Income, and Wealth - - - General, International, or Comparative J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
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Eckstein, Zvi & Stern, Steven & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1988.
"Fertility Choice, Land, and the Malthusian Hypothesis,"
International Economic Review,
Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 29(2), pages 353-61, May.
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