Land tenure, population, and long-run growth

This paper brings together the development literature on land tenure with current research on population and long-run growth. Landowners make a decision between fixed rent, fixed wage, and sharecropping contracts to hire tenants to operate their land. The choice of tenure contract affects the share of output going to tenants, and within a simple unified growth model, this affects the relative price of food and therefore fertility. Fixed wage contracts elicit the lowest fertility rate and fixed rent contracts the highest, with sharecropping as an intermediate case. The implications of this for long-run growth depend on the assumptions one makes about scale effects in the aggregate economy. With increasing returns to scale, as in several models of innovation, fixed rent contracts imply higher growth through a market size effect. Without such increasing returns, though, fixed rent contracts reduce output per capita through a depressing effect on accumulation.     

World population stabilisation through Smithian increasing returns to labour: an update

In light of classical political economists’ ideas (especially Smith and Malthus) and more recent theory of demographic transition, Foley (Econ Lett 68:309–317, 2000) constructed a simple integrated population model, which is then used as an alternative tool to project the stabilising level of world population and income level associated with it. This paper is an update of this line of research using more recent empirical evidence. We find the world still exhibits a strong pattern of Smithian increasing returns to scale and most countries’ populations have been stabilising along a convex income–fertility schedule. Our projections suggest that the world population will stabilise at 11.4 billion with per capita income around $12,595 in constant 2005 USD. Unfortunately, the process of world population stabilisation tends to be accompanied with growing global income equality.     

东乡族人口特征对其经济发展的影响

东乡族是甘肃省特有的三个少数民族之一。新中国成立后,其人口状况显示出长期高速增长、家庭规模大、受教育程度低、人口结构年轻等特征,这些特征对其经济发展产生一定程度的影响,有限资源下的人口激增导致大量东乡族人在传统生产方式下陷入贫困;文化程度低也限制了东乡族人进入现代生产方式,实现脱贫和经济发展;大家庭的生活模式一方面保证了贫困状态下东乡人的基本生活,另一方面维护了固有的生产方式;而年轻的人口结构在传统生产方式下也很难产生人口红利。     

Learning-by-doing,population pressure,and the theory of demographic transition

The present paper discusses the long-run effects of two interdependent relations between economic and population growth. According to a frequently used formulation of the population-push hypothesis, learning-by-doing effects in production lead to increasing returns to scale and, therefore, to a positive correlation between economic and population growth. In accordance to the theory of demographic transition the population growth rate initially increases with rising income levels and then declines. Regarding this relationship, the existence and stability of a low-income equilibrium and a high-income equilibrium will be shown in a neoclassical growth model. Under plausible conditions a demo-economic transition from the first to the second steady-state takes place. The result yields a meaningful interpretation of the population-push hypothesis, which is consistent with the empirical findings on the correlation between economic and population growth. Received March 8, 1996 / Accepted October 24, 1996     

A model on the escape from the Malthusian trap

We consider a demoeconomic model where output is produced using physical capital, human capital and technology as inputs. Human capital depends on the number of people and the level of education in the economy. The dynamics of labour, physical capital, education and technology are endogenously determined such as to reflect the interdependence between economic and demographic factors. The longrun path of the economy and in particular the possibility to escape the Malthusian trap crucially depend on technological progress, which provides for economy wide increasing returns to scale. The build up of technology is positively related to the stock of human capital. Our model predicts that positive population growth is sufficient to escape the Malthusian trap. Received: 22 August 1996 / Accepted: 11 December 1997     

地区发展、经济机会、收入回报与省际人口流动

利用最新的第六次全国人口普查数据,本文考察了省际人口流动的空间模式,发现省际人口流动呈现明显的空间聚集态势.并进一步分析地区差异对省际人口流动的影响,结果表明：作为流出地,一个地区的经济发展水平对于人口流出具有显著的阻力效应,但经济机会的多寡和经济回报的高低并无显著的影响;作为流入地,一个地区的经济发展水平对于吸引人口流入并不具有显著的影响,其“拉力”主要表现为经济机会的多寡和经济回报的高低.因地区发展不平衡短期内难以改变、经济开放性会继续增强、收入地区分化仍将存在,加上更加自由的流动环境和不断改善的交通和通讯条件,省级人口流动在局部地区集中的趋势将会进一步被强化.     

Returns to scale to family size - who gains from high fertility?

Summary In this paper the hypothesis put forward by J. C. Caldwell in a number of recent articles, including one in this journal is tested, that there are social and economic increasing returns to scale to family size. Using two village samples of household data collected in Bangladesh in 1977, it is shown that there is a statistically significant inverse correlation between adjusted consumption of rice per head and family size. This result holds true when age and size of landholding are taken into account. From this, it is concluded that the hypothesis is not empirically supported by the data from Bangladesh. This result is partially explained by the extreme poverty of the region and the fact that women are exploited in Bangladesh society.     

Books and publications received

In this paper the hypothesis put forward by J. C. Caldwell in a number of recent articles, including one in this journal is tested, that there are social and economic increasing returns to scale to family size. Using two village samples of household data collected in Bangladesh in 1977, it is shown that there is a statistically significant inverse correlation between adjusted consumption of rice per head and family size. This result holds true when age and size of landholding are taken into account. From this, it is concluded that the hypothesis is not empirically supported by the data from Bangladesh. This result is partially explained by the extreme poverty of the region and the fact that women are exploited in Bangladesh society.     

产业疏解背景下北京市人口保有规模测算

根据《北京城市总体规划(2016—2035年)》,2020年北京常住人口规模应控制在2300万以内,以后长期稳定在这一水平。然而从目前的人口变化趋势来看,北京市人口规模很有可能会出现持续减少,保持稳定面临挑战。如何在保证疏解非首都功能的情况下维持城市应有活力和可持续发展,将成为亟待关注的问题。利用城市经济学理论与方法,通过对北京市城市基础部门和非基础部门的辨识及确定各部门间就业人口的合理比例关系,测算出北京市疏解非首都功能后所必须保留的最低人口规模即人口保有规模为1800万;北京市疏解非首都功能后的总就业人口规模约940万。由此得出的结论,希冀为北京市制定未来的人口政策提供理论支持和参考建议。     

基于比较研究的上海人口规模再思考

近十几年来,我国城市化进程加速,大城市规模表现出明显的扩张,根据我国人口与经济发展形势,学者们对特大城市上海未来的人口规模问题展开了激烈的争论,从不同视角提出了自己的看法。在其他学者研究成果的基础上,拟采用比较研究的新视角,参照国际经验,以完全开放的系统观,分成几条线分别对上海的人口规模等进行研讨,然后再适当考虑约束条件,把这几条线加以整合,得出未来上海最大人口规模为2600万人的结论。     

Recent trends in the process of stratification

Using the 14 annual cross-sections from the General Social Survey, we specify a "basic model" of attainment and describe the year-by-year fluctuations in its parameters. The results are partially consistent with theories describing the gradual growth of universalistic patterns of stratification and mobility. Under a linear model of educational achievement, we find that the direct effects of race are weakening and the returns to class-based advantages are declining in tandem. The contours of the socioeconomic "gender gap" are also changing in important ways, with the male intercept declining at a rapid pace and the female term registering small and insignificant year-by-year gains. At the same time, the returns to experience and schooling are increasing for men, whereas the corresponding returns for women have remained stable over the 15-year period. This pattern of interaction effects implies that the size of the gender gap varies over time and across different population groups.     

西藏人口老龄化现状与发展趋势预测

人口老龄化是世界人口发展面临的共同问题。随着生育率的下降和人均预期寿命的延长,西藏的人口老龄化问题逐渐显露出来．通过对西藏自治区2010年人口普查资料的分析发现．虽然西藏整体尚未进入老龄化社会,但个别民族已经成为典型的老年型人口．局部地区也呈现出老龄化形态。西藏人口老龄化具有老年人口以藏族为主、世居民族老龄化程度高、老龄化程度地区发展不平衡等特点。尽管西藏还处在老龄化的初期,但应对老龄化问题必须具有战略性和超前性．鉴于此．本文对西藏未来40年人口老龄化的发展趋势进行了预测,并结合西藏的实际情况．提出探索应对西藏人口老龄化的途径。     

Why is Housing Always Satisfactory? A Study into the Impact of Cognitive Restructuring and Future Perspectives on Housing Appreciation

The current study focuses on residents’ perceptions of residential quality. The influence of two psychological factors is examined: cognitive restructuring and future perspectives. For cognitive restructuring, it is hypothesized that residents who cannot change a suboptimal housing situation show higher appreciation scores in order to prevent unhappiness and psychosocial complaints. By contrast, the future perspectives hypothesis argues that residents who can change a suboptimal housing situation show higher appreciation scores because they have a better situation to look forward to. Respondents indicated their appreciation of 23 dwelling aspects on a scale ranging from 0 (extremely unattractive) to 100 (extremely attractive). A weak impact was found for cognitive restructuring: residents living in a suboptimal housing situation and who do not intend to move showed a higher mean appreciation for an owner-occupied house and for a traditional architectural design than similar residents who did intend to move. No effect was observed for future perspectives. Why is housing always satisfactory? A previous study and the current one show that residents who live in a suboptimal housing situation might show relatively high residential satisfaction because they lower their aspirations (“I don’t need much”), because they are satisfied with what they have (“what I have is fine”) and, to a lesser extent, because they make the best of a situation that they cannot change (cognitive restructuring).     

城市规模成长经济的边际分析

城市人口规模的成长经济效益,与城市的人口规模本身所处阶段有关,与人口规模成长的速度有关。城市人口规模成长的经济效益由城市的自组织能力的增长速度与人口规模成长速度的相对关系即缺口决定。城市人口规模的成长经济效益,在一定条件下存在着城市与区域的不一致性,即对城市来说出现了成长不经济,但对区域来说却存在成长经济。     

Elementary models for population growth and distribution analysis

A version of the Lotka-Volterra interaction model is adapted to describe population growth and migration processes in a two-region system. The regions are identified as a metropolis and its non-metropolitan hinterland. Several conditions on growth and migration regimes are imposed. The time behavior of the systems are analyzed, noting especially situations where total depopulation or population explosion eventually occur in one or both populations. Neither growth control nor migration control alone results in a condition of long-run stability in both regions. If at least a momentary condition of zero growth is achieved in both regions, it is possible to maintain finite populations if each population follows a logistic natural growth process and migration flow is proportional to the volume of interaction. It is necessary also that the natural increase limitation is strong relative to migration rates. This result holds even if one population has a net migration advantage over the other.     

Conversion of Verbal Response Scales: Robustness Across Demographic Categories

Happiness and life satisfaction have traditionally been measured using verbal response scales, however, these verbal scales have not kept up with the present trend to use numerical response scales. A switch from a verbal scale to a numerical scale, however, causes a severe problem for trend analyses, due to the incomparability of the old and new measurements. The Reference Distribution Method is a method that has been developed recently to deal with this comparison problem. In this method use is made of a reference distribution based on responses to a numerical scale which is used to decide at which point verbally labelled response options transit from one state to another, for example from ‘happy’ to ‘very happy’. Next, for each wave of the time series in which the verbal scale is used, a population mean is estimated for the beta distribution that fits best to these transition points and the responses in this wave. These estimates are on a level that is comparable to that of the mean of the reference distribution and are appropriate for use in an extended time series based on the responses measured using a verbal and a numerical scale. In this paper we address the question of whether the transition points derived for the general population can be used for demographic categories to produce reliable, extended time series to monitor differences in trends among these categories. We conclude that this is possible and that it is not necessary to derive transition points for each demographic category separately.     

Induced population growth and induced technological progress: Their interaction in the accelerating stage

A simple model of Malthusian population growth combined with population‐induced technological progress generates accelerating growth. The model may be relevant for a first stage of growth in which natural resource limitations can be overcome through technological progress; it is not applicable to a later stage in which resource constraints are more resistant. Parameter values are roughly inferred from historical experience. Exogenously more rapid population growth initially depresses income, perhaps for up to several centuries, then raises it without limit. More rapid population growth is desirable only when the social discount rate is less than the ratio of the parameters for induced technical progress and static diminishing returns. Imposed population fluctuations cause inverse movements in incomes, so that induced progress is very difficult to detect empirically even for population fluctuations up to 500 years.     

The population explosion: Where is it leading?

Over the past few centuries world demography has been characterized by both continuous absolute growth and a steadily increasing rate of growth. From 1650 or earlier to at least 1957 it was always possible to say that never has world population been so large and never has the time necessary for it to double been so short. While there are now some signs to suggest that population doubling times are stabilizing, or even increasing, the population increase in absolute numbers is nevertheless greater each year, and the rate of growth may still be faster than a simple exponential function. There can be little doubt that too large a population, together with the pressures stemming from its demands for an even higher standard of living, sets requirements greater than our planet can safely sustain. This article reviews some aspects of global population data and population dynamics.     

城市廉租住房保障时间及家庭特征研究--基于生存分析视角

为了研究廉租住房保障时间及其主要影响因素,运用生命表方法和Cox比例风险模型对一项廉租住房家庭的抽样调查数据进行分析,发现廉租住房保障时间具有长期性,超过5年的概率为66?9％。廉租住房家庭规模小、婚姻不稳定、享受住房补贴大、其他生活开支大、居住在郊区等特征将增加其享受住房保障的时间;而申请时零就业的家庭,因其就业人口增加,退出住房保障的概率更高。因此,廉租住房制度应注重居住的稳定性,同时需要加大对住房保障家庭就业的支持力度,增加家庭的就业人口,减少对住房保障的依赖,实现其经济自助。     

快速人口转变后的中国长期经济增长—从预期寿命、人力资本投资角度考察

在过去三十年里,中国历经了发达国家要用一百多年才能完成的人口转变过程。生育率、死亡率快速下降,接踵而至的是日益严重的少子、老龄化过程。基于以上背景,本文扩展了Diamond（1965）的基本叠代模型,以不确定性寿命为切入点,在个人的微观行为基础上,致力于分析以下问题：中国是否需要调整当前的计划生育政策;随着人口红利的逐渐消失,中国长期的经济增长如何持续。本文的分析结果显示,预期寿命与生育率、人力资本投资、储蓄率以及经济增长的关系是非单调性的。