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Product Proliferation, Population, and Economic Growth

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  • Alberto Bucci

Abstract

This paper reassesses the long-run relationship between population growth and economic growth in two different frameworks. In the first one, aggregate human capital evolves exogenously over time, while in the second, individuals choose endogenously their investment in education. When endogenous human capital investment takes place, the potential tension between the productivity gains (due to specialization) and the productivity losses (due to more production complexity) arising from an expansion in the number of intermediate-input varieties employed in the production of final goods is crucial in determining the sign of the correlation between population growth and per capita income growth.

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  • Alberto Bucci, 2015. "Product Proliferation, Population, and Economic Growth," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(2), pages 170-197.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jhucap:doi:10.1086/680861
    DOI: 10.1086/680861
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    7. Bucci, Alberto & Eraydın, Levent & Müller, Moritz, 2019. "Dilution effects, population growth and economic growth under human capital accumulation and endogenous technological change," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
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    9. Naudé, Wim, 2019. "The decline in entrepreneurship in the West: Is complexity ossifying the economy?," MERIT Working Papers 2019-030, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    10. Sequeira, Tiago Neves & Gil, Pedro Mazeda & Afonso, Oscar, 2018. "Endogenous growth and entropy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 100-120.
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    14. Barbara Annicchiarico & Valentina Antonaroli & Alessandra Pelloni, 2022. "Optimal factor taxation in a scale free model of vertical innovation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 794-830, April.
    15. Md. Saiful Islam & Ibrahim A. Alhamad, 2023. "Do personal remittance outflows impede economic growth in Saudi Arabia? The role of trade, labor force, human, and physical capital," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    16. Hayat, Arshad & Rakshit, Shoumyadeep, 2020. "Natural resources curse or blessing? Evidence from a large panel dataset," MPRA Paper 101704, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Hayat, Arshad & Cahlik, Tomas, 2017. "FDI, natural resource and economic growth: A Threshold model approach," MPRA Paper 100271, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Bharat Diwakar & Gilad Sorek, 2016. "Dynastic Altruism, Population, and R&D based Growth," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(4), pages 2003-2009.
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    20. Zhang, Lulu & Xiong, Lichun & Cheng, Baodong & Yu, Chang, 2018. "How does foreign trade influence China’s carbon productivity? Based on panel spatial lag model analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 171-179.
    21. Aurora A. C. Teixeira & N. Renuga Nagarajan & Sandra T. Silva, 2017. "The Impact of Ageing and the Speed of Ageing on the Economic Growth of Least Developed, Emerging and Developed Countries, 1990–2013," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 909-934, August.
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    23. Wim Naudé, 2022. "From the entrepreneurial to the ossified economy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 46(1), pages 105-131.
    24. E. Wesley F. Peterson, 2017. "The Role of Population in Economic Growth," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(4), pages 21582440177, October.
    25. Alberto Bucci & Klaus Prettner, 2020. "Endogenous education and the reversal in the relationship between fertility and economic growth," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 1025-1068, July.

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