From Malthus' Stagnation to Sustained Growth: Social, Demographic and Economic Factors

[BOOK DESCRIPTION]

In recent years it has become apparent that the pattern of population growth is consistent with the predictions of the Malthusian model. Studies on the pre-industrial epoch in a wide range of countries show positive income elasticities of mortality and a strong positive correlation between real wages and marriage rates. Negative shocks to population, such as the Black Death, were reflected in higher real wages and faster population growth. Moreover, the prediction of the Malthusian model that differences in technology should be reflected in population density, but not in standards of living, is also borne out. However, the empirical implications of the Malthusian model are more complex than simply a tendency of real wage to revert to its long-run equilibrium level together with slow population growth. Many factors have impinged on the fertility and mortality rates. A most striking feature of the preindustrial epoch is the simultaneous effect of contradictory forces. This volume studies these forces pushing towards both growth and poverty, and evaluates the utility of the Malthusian model as a tool for understanding demographic dynamics today.  

[TABLE OF CONTENTS]

 Demographic Dynamics and Economic Changes      1  (4)
    in Europe before the 19th Century:
    Interpretive Schemes
          Bruno Chiarini
          Paolo Malanima
    Unified Growth Theory and Comparative          5  (13)
    Development
          Oded Galor
    Population Dynamics, Malthusian Crises and     18 (34)
    Boserupian Innovation in Pre-Industrial
    Societies: The Case Study of Northern Italy
    (ca.1450-1800) in the Light of Lee's
    "Dynamic Synthesis"
          Guido Alfani
    Energy and Economic Growth in Europe: The      52 (19)
    Last Two Centuries
          Silvana Bartoletto
    The Path Towards the Modern Economy: The       71 (29)
    Role of Energy
          Paolo Malanima
    Accounting for Child Mortality in the          100(18)
    Pre-Industrial European Economy
          Bruno Chiarini
          Massimo Giannini
    A Basic Model of Take-Off and Fertility        118(24)
    Choices in the Economic Development Process
          Edgardo Bucciarelli
          Gianfranco Giulioni
    Population, Earth Carrying Capacity and        142(18)
    Economic Growth
          Giovanni Scarano
    The Post-Malthusian Moment: Some Responses     160(19)
    to Population Explosion in Britain c.1840
          Patrice Bouche
Index                                              179