Mortality reductions, educational attainment, and fertility choice

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Soares, RR
• 署名单位: University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/0002828054201486
• 发表日期: 2005
• 页码: 580-601
• 关键词: demographic-transition; malthusian stagnation; population; size; LIFE; TECHNOLOGY; EVOLUTION; decline; GROWTH; LEVEL

摘要

This paper develops a model where reductions in mortality are the main force behind economic development. The model generates a pattern of changes similar to the demographic transition, where gains in life expectancy at birth are followed by reductions infertility and increases in the rate of human capital accumulation. The onset of the transition is characterized by a critical level of life expectancy at birth, which marks the movement of the economy from a Malthusian equilibrium to an equilibrium with investments in human capital and the possibility of long-run growth.