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Population, Technology, and Growth: From Malthusian Stagnation to the Demographic Transition and Beyond

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Listed author(s):
  • David N. Weil
  • Oded Galor

Abstract

This paper develops a unified growth model that captures the historical evolution of population, technology, and output. It encompasses the endogenous transition between three regimes that have characterized economic development. The economy evolves from a Malthusian regime, where technological progress is slow and population growth prevents any sustained rise in income per capita, into a Post-Malthusian regime, where technological progress rises and population growth absorbs only part of output growth. Ultimately, a demographic transition reverses the positive relationship between income and population growth, and the economy enters a Modern Growth regime, with reduced population growth and sustained income growth.

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File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.90.4.806
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Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal American Economic Review.

Volume (Year): 90 (2000)
Issue (Month): 4 (September)
Pages: 806-828

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Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:90:y:2000:i:4:p:806-828
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.90.4.806
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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
  • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
  • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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Citations

Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. Two New Papers On Malthus
    by Mark McG in Geary Behaviour Centre on 2010-12-05 18:39:00
  2. Unified Growth Theory
    by ? in Graduate Economist on 2012-04-19 12:00:00
  3. Did We Evolve the Capacity for Sustained Growth?
    by dvollrath in The Growth Economics Blog on 2015-03-30 18:30:34

RePEc Biblio mentions

As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
  1. > Macroeconomics > Economic Growth > Population and Growth
  2. > Economic History
  3. > Macroeconomics > Economic Growth
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