On demographic transition,structural change,and economic growth and stagnation

The paper analyzes an economy with an agrarian and an industrial sector. Demand is determined by Engel's Law. Population growth follows a non‐linear income dependent path according to the theory of demographic transition. In case of decreasing returns to scale in the agrarian sector the existence of a stable low‐income equilibrium with high population growth can be shown. If this equilibrium is globally unstable, the system evolves towards a steady‐state of perpetual economic growth and low population growth. The path of demographic transition coincides with a path of structural change from an economy specialized in agriculture to a fully industrialized economy. The introduction of an income dependent savings rate allows the interpretation of the low‐income equilibrium as a limit cycle and, therefore, the explanation of high fluctuations in population growth and per capita income in least developed economies.     

Intergenerational transfers in US county-level CO2 emissions, 2007

Research has shown that increases in carbon emissions and resulting climate change are not driven by population size alone, but also associated with industrialization, urbanization, and economic development. Further, industrialization and development may, in part, be driven by changing demographic structure, and in particular the process of population aging. Fluctuations in age composition shape aggregate production and consumption. Viewed through this lens, the carbon dioxide emissions of an analytical unit (county, province, state, nation) can be considered a product of its age composition. This analysis tests several demographic theories of age-specific production and consumption on US county-level carbon dioxide emissions. Using a modified STIRPAT framework, econometric estimates identify a positive correlation between county-level labor force participation and total carbon dioxide emissions. These effects are a result of general economic activity as opposed to growth only in energy intensive industrial sectors, a relationship that is widely hypothesized but under-developed in carbon emission estimates. In addition, results show larger households are associated with lower aggregate emissions, confirming the hypothesis that areas of declining household size will experience higher future emissions. In general, this research demonstrates the importance of adding nuance to emission estimates by integrating demographic dimensions beyond population size and growth.     

人力资本、人口变动与经济增长

本文在Lucas模型基础上,构建了一个人力资本、人口变动和经济增长模型,并分别利用1997～2004年全国30个省区市以及东部12个省、中部9个省、西部9个省的面板数据,使用固定效应模型对理论模型的预期结果进行了实证检验,发现人力资本、贸易开放度对经济增长具有显著正效应,而人口增长率、FD I与经济增长的关系则具有不确定性。这些结果可在一定程度上解释我国区域经济发展中存在的差距。特别值得指出的是,回归结果并不支持在东部发达地区率先尝试放松生育控制政策的观点。     

人口稀释效应对经济增长异质性的影响——基于人力资本积累、R&D传导的机理分析

将人口增长“稀释效应”嵌入一个四部门水平创新框架,提出一个同时内生化个体经济行为、R&D技术进步与人力资本积累的内生增长模型,推导并刻画了经济收敛于BGP均衡及影响经济增长率的因素,为解释人口增长对经济增长产生不确定影响的“正负符号之争”提供了微观基础分析。边际贡献在于:修正设定知识积累存在非规模效应且人力资本积累存在“稀释效应”,放宽对参数的上限或正负进行先验设定。得出结论:人口增长产生负向“稀释效应”与正向“思想效应”是影响经济增长的微观传导路径,正负效应共同作用门槛值大小的不同决定人口增长与经济增长呈非单调异质性不确定影响,进一步分析了稀释效应与门槛值之间的内在关联,数值模拟量化了参数效应。     

Human capital,technological progress and the demographic transition*

We emphasize the importance to consider components of population growth — fertility and mortality ‐ separately, when modeling the mutual interaction between population and economic growth. Our model implies that two countries with the same population growth will not converge towards the same level of per capita income. The country with the lower level of birth and death rates will be better off in the long run. Introducing a spill over effect of average human capital on total productivity our model implies multiple equilibria as illustrated in Becker el al. (1990) and Strulik (1999). Besides the existence of a low and high level equilibrium ‐ as characterized by low and high levels of per capita output respectively ‐ we show the existence of multiple low level (Malthusian) equilibria. Initial conditions and parameters of technological progress and human capital investment determine whether an economy is capable to escape the low level equilibrium trap and to enjoy sustained economic growth.     

人口转变的经济增长效应研究新进展：一个综述

关于人口转变对于经济增长的效应研究由来已久,但是研究大多只考虑了人口数量和人口增长率对于经济增长的效应。近二十年来,许多经济学家在揭示“东亚奇迹”和中国经济腾飞等一系列经济现象的原因时。发现了人口年龄结构对于经济增长的重要贡献,并提出了“人口红利”的概念以解释经济发展。本文将具体介绍近二十年来理论界对于人口转变影响经济增长的相关机制的研究以及经验分析。并对这些研究的政策含义和有待深入研究的问题作出简要评述。     

人口效应及其对中国经济增长的影响

对于人口增长与经济增长的关系,理论界存在着多种争论。本文首先在现代经济增长理论基础上建立了一个简单的逻辑框架,进而得出了关于人口增长与经济增长关系的预测,然后利用大量的经验数据初步证实了上述判断;虽然受各种因素的影响,人口增长的经济效应可能依时间、地点而有明显的差异,但无论是从长期还是短期来看,人口增长对经济增长都有一定的促进作用。因此,在目前的背景下,应当适时地调整现行的人口管理政策,以维持我国经济的持续增长。     

中国人口转变、人口红利与经济增长的实证

我国人口年龄结构的变动使得劳动负担逐渐下降,这对于储蓄水平的上升和劳动力投入效率的提高具有显著的促进作用;我国劳动负担比与经济增长呈现出明显的负相关,劳动负担比每下降1个百分点,经济增长将提高1.06个百分点,在过去的30年里劳动负担降低累计带来的经济增长占总增长的27.23%。通过计量检验证明人口年龄结构变动所产生的促进经济增长的人口红利是存在的。由此我们推断,由于未来的人口年龄结构变动趋向人口老龄化,劳动负担逐步上升,这将会对未来的经济增长造成制约。利用未来10～20年时间较轻的劳动负担的机遇期,我们应当建立良好的教育、人力资本投资、社会保障等方面的制度以及制定积极的人口政策,调整当前生育政策、适时执行宏观经济政策(劳动就业政策)来应对已发生的、正在进行的人口变动,使我国的经济继续保持强有力的增长态势。     

Urban influences on farmland use in New York State

This article assesses the relationship between demographic change and structural adjustments in agriculture. A number of demographic and economic analyses have posited an inverse relationship between post-1950 exurban population growth and agricultural viability, especially in the Northeast Region of the USA. To test this hypothesis, a multivariate model of percent change in county land in farms over the period 1950–1987 is estimated, and the findings only partially support the population hypothesis. Estimation results indicate that the effect of core metropolitan status is significant, but that the effects of rural population change, rural nonfarm population change, and county population deconcentration are not. The analysis demonstrates that maintenance of land in farm use largely depends upon economic forces that are national and regional in scope, and almost exclusively outside the purview of state and local farmland protection programs.     

The evaluation of China's population policy]

China's population policy has had tremendous effects on the reduction of fertility. The impact of the population policy is manifested in the following aspects. 1) Reducing the size of the total population by 200 million in 17 years. If the population growth rate had remained at its 1970 level of 2.6/1000, the total population would have been 1.28 billion in 1987. 2) The implementation of the population policy accelerated the process of demographic transition. The mortality decline which began in the early 1950s initiated the demographic transition. The Fertility decline began after the birth control policy was implemented and shifted the transition to a low population growth stage even before the socioeconomic conditions which are considered to be the determinants of fertility decline appeared. The fertility decline, in turn, promoted the socioeconomic development of the country. 3) Solving the problem of food; feeding 21.6% of the world's population on 7.1% of the world's farm land is no easy task. The success of population control, no doubt, played an important role in lowering the population growth rate so that the growth of food production could keep pace with the needs of the population. 4) A decline in the dependency ratio is a favorable condition to socioeconomic development. China's dependency ratio of 59.7 is among the lowest in developing countries and is close to the level in developed countries. Therefore, more production output can be used in investment rather than consumption. 5) The fertility decline facilitated a balanced economic growth. The ratio of population growth as compared to the growth of major economic indicators should be considered an important issue in maintaining macroeconomic control. The population policy made it possible for economic growth to surpass population growth.     

A stochastic version of the Malthusian Trap Model: consequences for the empirical relationship between economic growth and population growth in LDC's

A stochastic version of the Malthusian trap model relating the growth rate of income per capita to the population growth rate of a given country is described. This model is applied to the a priori evaluation of the cross-sectional correlation between these 2 growth rates under 2 additional assumptions: 1) the relations in the model at national levels include country-specific and time-invariant random components, and 2) these growth rates are measured with a certain degree of temporal aggregation. It is shown that these 2 assumptions can explain near-0 correlations between the 2 growth rates even if there exist a strongly negative effect of population growth on economic growth. However, it is not clear whether these assumptions fully explain such insignificant correlations. Indeed, the implementation of the model is complicated by the structural shifts which are likely to occur in the equations over the course of the demographic transition.     

日本失去的二十年——基于中日人口红利比较的视角

"人口红利"是人口因素与经济增长关系研究的深入和发展。亚洲地区经济高速增长和工业化国家人口老龄化条件下经济增长,分别对应第一次"人口红利"和第二次"人口红利"。中国与日本相比,无论是经济增长模式还是人口转变模式,都有着极为相似之处,本文旨在通过对比分析中日两国人口发展与经济发展之间的变化,借鉴日本人口红利期的经验和教训,为中国充分实现第一次人口红利、创造第二次人口红利提供参考。     

中国人口转变与消费制度变迁

从抑制消费到刺激消费是中国消费制度的重大变革。本文运用新制度经济学和人口经济学理论,论证了中国人口转变通过人口增长的迅速下降,人口年龄结构的变化及其带来的人口红利对消费制度变迁的影响:死亡率下降主导的初期阶段,人口转变固化了抑制消费的制度,出生率下降主导阶段,人口转变与改革开放条件下的高速经济增长相叠加加剧了原有消费制度的不均衡。通过实证分析,揭示出消费率在人口转变过程中下降的必然性和中国保持适度人口增长的必要。     

人口增长与经济发展相互作用机制及实证分析——基于水平VAR的Granger因果分析方法和协整技术

本文首先分析了人口数量与经济发展相互作用机制,从环境承载力角度分析了一定数量的人口是经济发展的必要条件,而当社会生产力发展到在特定空间内相对稳定时,若不断增长的人口数量超过社会经济发展的需求与承受能力,这时经济发展就要受到人口增长的困扰。其次本论文运用Granger因果分析方法和协整技术研究了中国人口增长率与经济发展水平之间相互作用数量关系。结果为:在短期内,在5%的显著性水平下,人口增长率对经济发展水平没有显著影响,而经济发展水平却对人口增长率有显著影响;从长期看,人口增长率与经济发展水平之间具有显著的负相关关系。最后得出结论:只有控制人口增长(尤其是农村人口增长),才能促进经济发展;而只有促进经济发展,才能更好的控制人口增长,两者相辅相成。     

A stochastic version of the malthusian trap model: Consequences for the empirical relationship between economic growth and population growth in LDC's

A stochastic version of the Malthusian trap model relating the growth rate of income per capita to the population growth rate of a given country is described. This model is applied to the a priori evaluation of the cross‐sectional correlation between these two growth rates under two additional assumptions: i) the relations in the model at national levels include country‐specific and time‐invariant random components, and ii) these growth rates are measured with a certain degree of temporal aggregation. It is shown that these two assumptions can explain near‐zero correlations between the two growth rates even if there exist a strongly negative effect of population growth on economic growth. However it is not clear whether these assumptions fully explain such insignificant correlations. Indeed, the implementation of the model is complicated by the structural shifts which are likely to occur in the equations over the course of the demographic transition.     

Population growth and economic development

The paper deals with the relationship between the population growth and economic development in Yugoslavia and its republics, covering the period after the Second World War. Yugoslavia is a developing country with a specific demographic and economic structure which makes her unique in Europe. Its territory is comprised of both relatively developed regions where demographic transition is over, and underdeveloped regions with high natural increase of population where the demographic transition is only just beginning. Correlation and regression methods were used to quantify this relationship. The economic development and structural changes are discussed, relating to human factor. An adequate population policy through family planning is stressed as important in obtaining an increased return to scale with a more positive role of demographic factor.     

人口转变的储蓄效应和增长效应--论中国增长可持续性的人口因素

人口转变是挑战中国经济持续增长的一个重要因素.在这个过程中,个人的生命周期和代际更替之间的相互叠加,通过劳动供给、储蓄和科技进步等渠道对长期经济增长施加影响.本文分析表明,人口转变使得中国从20世纪60年代中期开始享受人口红利,并一直持续到2015年前后.为了迎接人口老龄化冲击,中国需要通过扩大就业、加快人力资本积累和建立适合于中国国情的可持续的养老保障模式三条途径来充分挖掘未来潜在的人口红利,推动中国经济持续增长.     

北京市人口经济与二氧化碳排放的关联分析

一直以来北京的人口问题被认为是造成环境污染的一个主要原因。基于VAR模型的脉冲响应和方差因素分解发现,在影响二氧化碳排放因素中,经济规模的增长对二氧化碳排放的影响远远强于人口规模的增长。由于人口增长在一定程度上有利于经济聚集和技术进步,北京人口增长对经济聚集和技术进步的推动作用大于人口增长本身所造成的环境压力,因此,北京人口增长并没有表现出常识所认为的与二氧化碳排放的正相关关系。北京应更多从经济领域入手,通过采取多种措施如调整经济结构,挖掘减排潜力以及颁布实施一系列更为严格有效的环境保护政策来应对环境污染问题。     

人口转变、人口红利与经济增长可持续性--兼论充分就业如何促进经济增长

本文援引国际经验,把人口转变引致的不同人口年龄特征阶段看作是经济增长的一个额外源泉,或人口红利;论证了通过高储蓄率、充足的劳动力供给和低抚养比,中国人口转变对改革以来高速经济增长的贡献;揭示了人口红利即将消失的趋势,由此提出最大化促进就业是维持人口对经济增长正面效应的关键.     

Aging population scenarios: an Australian experience

During the past decade, there has been wide public discussion about the effects of population and immigration policies. There is some consensus that an older population imposes economic costs but uncontrolled population growth imposes congestion and environmental burdens. While many realize that policies which restrict population tend to exacerbate aging, the inevitable trade-off is not widely acknowledged. Fewer still appreciate that there is a sustainable age distribution that is largely imposed on us by nature that cannot be defeated in the long term. In this paper, we look at the ‘aging issue’ for Australia by looking at the total population and age distribution as a joint outcome. For ease of interpretation, the age distribution is converted into a required retirement age (RRA) to maintain dependency ratios at 2010 levels. We examine the effects of alternative policy scenarios on total population and RRAs, benchmarked against a hypothetical population in zero population growth equilibrium. We account for differing demographic groups of immigrants and emigrants as well as trends in mortality. Policy scenarios can be well summarized by plotting the trajectory of the two outcomes, total population and RRA, with the equilibrium values as axes.