IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/red/sed006/420.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Population Policy through Tradable Procreation Rights

Author

Listed:
  • David de la Croix

    (economics CORE, Univ. cath. Louvain)

  • Axel Gosseries

Abstract

Tradable permits are now widely used to control pollution. We investigate the implications of setting up such a system in another field -- population control --, either domestically or at the global level. We first generalize the framework with both tradable procreation allowances and tradable procreation exemptions, in order to tackle both over- and under-population problems. The implications of procreation rights for income inequality and education are contrasted. With procreation exemptions or procreation allowances that would be expensive enough, resources are redistributed from the rich to the poor. In contrast, cheap procreation allowances redistribute resource towards the rich. As far as human capital is concerned, natalist policy would be bad for education, while population control would be good. If procreation rights are granted in proportion to existing fertility levels (grandfathering) instead of being allocated uniformly, population control can be made more redistributive. On the whole, procreation rights offer an interesting alternative to both coercive population control in developing countries and pronatalist policies in the developed world

Suggested Citation

  • David de la Croix & Axel Gosseries, 2006. "Population Policy through Tradable Procreation Rights," 2006 Meeting Papers 420, Society for Economic Dynamics.
  • Handle: RePEc:red:sed006:420
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mikhail Golosov & Larry E. Jones & Michèle Tertilt, 2007. "Efficiency with Endogenous Population Growth," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1039-1071, July.
    2. Susan Greenhalgh, 2003. "Science, Modernity, and the Making of China's One‐Child Policy," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 29(2), pages 163-196, June.
    3. Kremer, Michael & Chen, Daniel L, 2002. "Income Distribution Dynamics with Endogenous Fertility," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 227-258, September.
    4. Philippe Michel & Bertrand Wigniolle, 2007. "On Efficient Child Making," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 31(2), pages 307-326, May.
    5. Joskow, Paul L & Schmalensee, Richard & Bailey, Elizabeth M, 1998. "The Market for Sulfur Dioxide Emissions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(4), pages 669-685, September.
    6. David de la Croix & Matthias Doepke, 2003. "Inequality and Growth: Why Differential Fertility Matters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1091-1113, September.
    7. Rose, John C., 1906. "Negro Suffrage: The Constitutional Point of View," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 17-43, November.
    8. Gary S. Becker, 1960. "An Economic Analysis of Fertility," NBER Chapters, in: Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries, pages 209-240, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David de la Croix & Axel Gosseries, 2009. "Population Policy Through Tradable Procreation Entitlements," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 50(2), pages 507-542, May.
    2. Schoonbroodt, Alice & Tertilt, Michèle, 2014. "Property rights and efficiency in OLG models with endogenous fertility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 551-582.
    3. Bishnu, Monisankar & Garg, Shresth & Garg, Tishara & Ray, Tridip, 2023. "Intergenerational transfers: Public education and pensions with endogenous fertility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    4. Schäfer, Andreas, 2002. "Endogenous Growth with Endogenous Fertility and Social Discrimination in Education," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 35, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    5. Thomas Baudin, 2011. "Family Policies: What Does the Standard Endogenous Fertility Model Tell Us?," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 13(4), pages 555-593, August.
    6. Kasuga, Hidefumi & Morita, Yuichi, 2022. "The health gap and its effect on economic outcomes," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    7. de la Croix, David & Doepke, Matthias, 2021. "A soul’s view of the optimal population problem," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 98-108.
    8. Musab Kurnaz, 2021. "Optimal Taxation of Families: Mirrlees Meets Becker," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(639), pages 2984-3011.
    9. Ishida, Ryo & Oguro, Kazumasa & Takahata, Junichiro, 2015. "Child benefit and fiscal burden in the endogenous fertility setting," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 252-265.
    10. de la Croix, David & Doepke, Matthias, 2004. "Public versus private education when differential fertility matters," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 607-629, April.
    11. Philippe Michel & Bertrand Wigniolle, 2009. "Pareto-Efficiency and Endogenous Fertility: A Simple Model," Mathematical Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 36-59.
    12. Alice Schoonbroodt, 2010. "Who Owns Children and Does It Matter?," Working Papers id:2360, eSocialSciences.
    13. Julio Dávila, 2018. "Internalizing fertility and education externalities on capital returns," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 66(2), pages 343-373, August.
    14. Li, Bei & Zhang, Jie, 2015. "Efficient education subsidization and the pay-as-you-use principle," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 41-50.
    15. Ronald R. Kumar & Peter J. Stauvermann, 2019. "The Effects of a Revenue-Neutral Child Subsidy Tax Mechanism on Growth and GHG Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-23, May.
    16. Andreas Schäfer, 2004. "The Political Economy and the Interaction between Endogenous Fertility and Inequality," DEGIT Conference Papers c009_041, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    17. Oguro, Kazumasa & Takahata, Junichiro, 2009. "Child Benefit and Fiscal Burden with Endogenous Fertility," MPRA Paper 15378, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Amol Amol & Monisankar Bishnu & Tridip Ray, 2023. "Pension, possible phaseout, and endogenous fertility in general equilibrium," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 25(2), pages 376-406, April.
    19. Liu, Xiying, 2015. "Optimal population and policy implications," ISU General Staff Papers 201501010800005546, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    20. Dilip Mookherjee & Silvia Prina & Debraj Ray, 2010. "A Theory Of Endogenous Fertility With Occupational Choice," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2010-036, Boston University - Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tradable permits; Population control; Pronatalist policy; Income inequality; Differential fertility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:red:sed006:420. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christian Zimmermann (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sedddea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.