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Updated: Jul 6, 2026
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Precise, High-throughput Analysis of Bacterial Growth
Published on: September 19, 2017
Capital accumulation, endogenous population growth, and Easterlin cycles
Journal of Population Economics
|January 1, 1990
Summary
This study explains population cycles in industrialized economies using a model where birth rates adapt to consumption expectations. Economic and demographic swings arise from balancing present and future consumption.
Area of Science:
- Demoeconomics
- Economic demography
- Population economics
Background:
- Industrialized economies exhibit population cycles.
- Birth rates are influenced by consumption rate discrepancies.
- Easterlin's adapting aspiration level concept is relevant.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model and explain population cycles in industrialized economies.
- To integrate endogenous population growth with neoclassical optimal growth.
- To analyze the impact of consumption expectations on demographic and economic variables.
Main Methods:
- Development of a highly aggregated demo-economic model.
- Incorporation of birth rate dependency on actual vs. expected consumption.
- Analysis of an endogenously growing population system without age structure.
Main Results:
- The model demonstrates the possibility of population cycles.
- Swings in both economic and demographic variables were observed.
- An intertemporal substitution effect was identified as the cause.
Conclusions:
- Endogenous population growth models can explain economic and demographic cycles.
- Consumption expectations play a crucial role in economic and demographic dynamics.
- Intertemporal consumption choices drive observed population cycles.
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