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Population growth and industrialization

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  • Zhou, Haiwen

Abstract

This paper formalizes Rostow’s insight of the role of a leading sector in industrialization in a general equilibrium model. Population growth may lead to a shortage of food and a breakdown of the industrialization process. However, population growth may benefit the manufacturing sector in the adoption of increasing returns to scale technologies. Elasticity of demand for agricultural goods plays an important role in determining whether an improvement of agricultural technology or an increase of population is beneficial to the manufacturing sector. A comparison of China and Britain before the Industrial Revolution shows that R&D is necessary for sustained growth. Achieving industrialization independently requires a combination of a sufficient market size from the demand side and a sufficient supply of technologies from the supply side.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhou, Haiwen, 2019. "Population growth and industrialization," MPRA Paper 91449, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:91449
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Population growth; increasing returns to scale; industrialization; leading sector; Malthus population cycle;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E10 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - General
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development

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