Malthus in cointegration space: evidence of a post-Malthusian pre-industrial England

This paper re-examines the interaction between population growth and income per capita in pre-industrial England. Our results suggest that, as early as two centuries preceding the Industrial Revolution, England had already escaped the Malthusian Epoch and entered a post-Malthusian regime, where income per capita continued to spur population growth but was no longer stagnant. Our formulation of a post-Malthusian hypothesis implies cointegration between vital rates (birth- and death rates) and income and builds explicitly on a simple model of Malthusian stagnation. We show that this hypothesis can be interpreted as an extension of the latter model where the negative Malthusian feedback effect from population on income, as implied by diminishing returns to labor, is offset by a positive Boserupian and/or Smithian scale effect of population on technology.     

Post‐Malthusian Dynamics in Pre‐Industrial Scandinavia

Theories of economic growth hypothesize that the transition from pre‐industrial stagnation to sustained growth is associated with a post‐Malthusian phase in which technological progress raises income and spurs population growth while offsetting diminishing returns to labor. Evidence suggests that England was characterized by post‐Malthusian dynamics preceding the Industrial Revolution. However, given England's special position as the forerunner of the Industrial Revolution, it is unclear if a transitory post‐Malthusian period is a general phenomenon. Using data from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, this research provides evidence for the existence of a post‐Malthusian phase in the transition from stagnation to growth in Scandinavia.     

From Malthus to Modern Growth: Can Epidemics Explain the Three Regimes?*

We model demographic and economic long‐run development in a setting where mortality is endogenous and subject to epidemic shocks. The model replicates the full transition from Malthusian stagnation to modern growth. Consistent with the historical facts, the economy also passes an intermediate post‐Malthusian phase where growth rates of both population and per capita income increase simultaneously, as mortality rates fall and become less volatile. The escape from the Malthusian trap is the result of a series of mild epidemic shocks, making it inevitable at some stage, but its timing random. Calibrations show that it can differ by thousands of generations, absent differences in exogenous parameters.     

Evolution and growth

This paper presents an evolutionary growth theory that captures the interplay between the evolution of mankind and economic growth since the emergence of the human species. This unified theory encompasses the observed evolution of population, technology and income per capita in the long transition from an epoch of Malthusian stagnation to sustained economic growth.     

The potato's contribution to population and urbanization: evidence from a historical experiment

We exploit regional variation in suitability for cultivating potatoes, together with time variation arising from their introduction to the Old World from the Americas, to estimate the impact of potatoes on Old World population and urbanization. Our results show that the introduction of the potato was responsible for a significant portion of the increase in population and urbanization observed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. According to our most conservative estimates, the introduction of the potato accounts for approximately one-quarter of the growth in Old World population and urbanization between 1700 and 1900. Additional evidence from within-country comparisons of city populations and adult heights also confirms the cross-country findings.     

“五普”至“六普”期间中国城镇人口的增长构成

利用2000年和2010年的全国人口普查资料、2005年全国1%人口抽样调查资料以及国家统计局公布的相关人口数据,对第五次人口普查和第六次人口普查期间中国城镇人口的增长构成进行了估算。在"五普"至"六普"期间中国城镇人口的增长构成发生了很大的变化,具体表现在人口从农村向城镇的迁移已成为中国城镇人口增长的主要来源。在面临中国城镇人口增长模式发生深刻变革的时候,中国亟需解决的问题是从政策和制度层面为从农村转移到城镇的人口的就业、住房、医疗、教育和社会保障等创造良好的条件,使他们在城镇里安居乐业,从而巩固人口迁移对中国城市化的贡献,使中国的城市化顺利发展。     

农村—城市移民率的变动与中国城市化的关系

在我国的经济发展过程中,城市化水平不断提高,并伴随有大量的农村人口向城市转移。本文通过构建一个理论分析框架,在城市化水平与农村—城市移民率的变动之间建立一个模型,发现在农村—城市移民率和城市化水平、农村人口与总人口自然增长率之间存在着联系。通过城市化数据分析我国的农村—城市移民率的变化情况,并应用城市化的logistic方程对城市化水平以及农村—城市移民率进行进一步的估计,最后预测它们未来的发展趋势。     

地方政府竞争、土地垄断供给与城市化发展失衡

文章基于地方政府竞争和土地垄断供给的双重视角,利用中国1999—2012年的省级面板数据,对人口城市化与空间城市化的发展失衡现象及其内在机理进行了系统研究。理论研究发现,地方政府间以经济增长和财政收入增加为导向的竞争机制,为地方政府偏重推进空间城市化、忽视推进人口城市化提供了内在激励,而土地的政府垄断供给则为地方政府通过经营土地来实施这种偏重空间城市化的行为提供了手段。这两个因素叠加在一起,导致了人口城市化与空间城市化的发展失衡。实证检验发现,地方政府间竞争越激烈,土地供给数量越多,人口城市化与空间城市化发展失衡的程度就越严重。这表明,地方政府竞争和土地垄断供给对城市化发展失衡确实存在显著正向影响。推进地方政府竞争模式和土地供给制度改革,是实现中国人口城市化与空间城市化均衡发展的有效途径。     

Four centuries of British economic growth: the roles of technology and population

Using long historical data for Britain over the period 1620–2006, this paper seeks to explain the importance of innovative activity, population growth and other factors in inducing the transition from the Malthusian trap to the post-Malthusian growth regime. Furthermore, the paper tests the ability of two competing second-generation endogenous growth models to account for the British growth experience. The results suggest that innovative activity was an important force in shaping the Industrial Revolution and that the British growth experience is consistent with Schumpeterian growth theory.     

Is urbanization improving real estate investment? A cross‐regional study of China

This paper applies bootstrap panel Granger causality to test the relationship between urbanization and real estate investment from 1990 to 2014 for 29 provinces in China. We argue that the patterns of interaction between urbanization and investment in real estate vary across regions. The results show that urbanization does Granger‐cause investment in real estate, primarily in the central and northeastern regions of China, while urbanization does not Granger‐cause investment in real estate in the eastern and western regions, except for four provinces. Most regions do not have a Granger‐causality relationship from real estate investment to urbanization; the exceptions are Henan and Hei Longjiang provinces. Our results only support one theory on the relationship between urbanization and the real estate market for one‐third of the provinces. Thus, urbanization can improve real estate investment by increasing the demand for housing as a result of population agglomeration, but urbanization does not depend on real estate investment in China.     

Population and lifestyle trend changes in China: implications for environmental quality

Demographic changes have considerable impacts on a country’s long-term growth trajectory through the savings, consumption and labour market channels. Population changes, including ageing, migration and urbanization, as well as lifestyle shifts may affect growth for fast-growing countries like China. Rural population migrating to cities consumes more energy services and produces larger emissions since urban lifestyles are generally more energy- and carbon-intensive. Household structures also keep changing across the majority of Chinese cities. Migration and urbanization together drive China’s energy consumption, CO₂ emissions upwards and environmental quality downwards if the current trend continues over time. It is, thus, necessary for China to draw useful lessons from experiences in other countries by reconciling population development and environmental changes. This study provides insights into the challenge of environmental sustainability, resulting jointly from population and lifestyle changes in China over the period 1978–2012. The empirical analysis generates empirical findings documenting that population changes and consumption behavioural changes contributed significantly to increased carbon emissions over the last three decades. The modelling results are highly relevant for policymakers who seek to adopt new policies to mitigate lifestyle change-driven environmental challenges that China has to cope with in the foreseeable future.     

Regional distribution and dynamics of human capital in China 1985–2014

This study investigates the regional distribution and dynamics of human capital in China. We develop a new comprehensive human capital measure based on the Jorgenson-Fraumeni (J-F) lifetime income framework, in addition to using the traditional education-based human capital measures. We find that the new J-F human capital measure reflects more closely the regional economic disparity than the education-based measures. We also conduct a Divisia decomposition analysis to investigate the contributions of different factors to the quantity and quality growth of human capital and to regional disparity. Our results show that the regional human capital gaps in China are enlarging in general. Education and urbanization contribute most to human capital growth, while population aging shows a strong negative effect. Our estimates create a new provincial level human capital panel dataset from 1985 to 2014, which is useful for empirical work and policy analysis.     

Agricultural Productivity Growth and Escape from the Malthusian Trap

Industrialization allowed the industrialized world of today to escape from the Malthusian regime characterized by low economic and population growth and to enter the post-Malthusian regime of high economic and population growth. To explain the transition between these regimes, we construct a growth model with two consumption goods (an agricultural and a manufacturing good), endogenous fertility, and endogenous technological progress in the manufacturing sector. We show that with an exogenous increase in the growth of agricultural productivity our model is able to replicate stylized facts of the British industrial revolution. The paper concludes by illustrating that our proposed model framework can be extended to include the demographic transition, i.e., a regime in which economic growth is associated with falling fertility.     

Population,land, and growth

This paper suggests a new explanation for changes in economic and population growth with a long run perspective, emphasizing the role of land in the development process. Starting from a pre-industrialization state called the “Malthusian regime”, land and labor are the main production factors. The size of population is limited by the quantity of land available for households and by incomes. Technical progress driven by a “Boserupian effect” may push the economy towards a take-off regime. In this regime, capital accumulation begins and a “learning-by-doing” effect in production takes over from the “Boserupian effect”. If this effect is strong enough, the economy can reach an “ultimate growth regime”. In the different phases, land plays a crucial role.     

The Galor–Weil model revisited: A quantitative exercise

The long-run growth model of Galor and Weil [Galor, O., Weil, D., 2000. Population, technology, and growth: From Malthusian stagnation to the demographic transition and beyond. American Economic Review 90, 806–829] is examined quantitatively. We first give parametric forms to some functions which were only given on general form in the original article. We then choose numerical parameter values in line with calibrations of related long-run growth models, and with data. Finally, we simulate the model. We find, inter alia, that the time paths for population, and other variables, display oscillatory behavior: they move in endogenous cycles. As the economy transits from Malthusian stagnation to modern growth these oscillations die out. This is consistent with population growth rates fluctuating considerably in historical data, but having stabilized in modern economies. We also show that these cycles are not an artifact of the two-period life setting: allowing adults to live on after the second period of life with some probability does not make the oscillations go away. Rather, the cycles are driven by fertility being proportional to per capita income minus the parental subsistence requirement. When population is large, and per capita incomes close to subsistence, fertility is therefore sensitive to changes in population levels.     

城镇化、区域发展不均衡与房地产价格*

现阶段,城镇化和由于区域发展不均衡所引起的人口流动对我国房价影响显著,但现有文献对该问题较少涉及,本文针对该问题进行了研究。本文首先分别从房地产市场的需求和供给出发建立模型,推导出均衡房价的决定方程,从理论上推演了各省份农村居民和外省份人口需求对本省份城镇房价的影响。在此基础上,本文对我国各省份城镇化和区域间人口流动对房价的影响进行了实证检验。研究发现：我国居民收入的提高、快速发展的城镇化进程和由于收入、福利以及基础设施在区域间分布的不均衡而引起的人口跨区域流动都在很大程度上推高了我国房价;后两者是我国房价收入比与发达国家相比偏高于发达国家的重要原因;城镇化和跨区域人口流动是我国东部地区房价上涨和房价收入比扩大的主要动力,但跨区域人口流动在中部地区,以及城镇化在西部地区对二者的影响均不显著。     

市镇设置标准及城镇人口统计口径对中国城市化发展的影响

探讨了改革开放以来中国的市镇设置标准和市、镇人口统计口径的变化与中国城市化发展之间的关系。市镇设置标准和市、镇人口统计口径等行政因素对中国城市化水平有重要影响。当前,中国的城市化水平具有高估的现象,表现在城镇人口中农业人口的比重过高和城镇就业人口中从事第一产业的人口比重较高。未来中国城市化的发展在提高城市化水平的同时,更重要的是需要提高城镇人口中非农业人口的比重,改善城镇人口的就业结构,同时制定客观、合理的市镇设置标准和市、镇人口统计口径,使中国的城市化水平真正反映中国城市化的实际发展状况。     

江苏省城市化进程与现状特征研究

本文从城市化的概念、表现和度量指标出发,分析了现行城镇人口统计中存在的问题,指出城镇人口应包括的人口范围。并把江苏城市化发展过程分为六个阶段,对发展的现状特征进行了分析研究。     

我国中部地区人口城镇化的空间格局

中部地区成为国家近年来关注的热点地区。中部地区人口众多,城镇化的发展也面临一系列的问题。文章基于GIS和数据分析,总结了中部地区人口城镇化空间格局的基本特征,包括人口城镇化速度快但水平低;各区县人口规模相差很大,城镇体系结构不合理;城镇化的区域差异明显;都市经济区和人口—产业集聚带初步形成;各省的离心化倾向明显,表现出一定的核心—边缘结构等。中部地区的城镇人口空间分布的集聚态势明显,城镇化区域差异将进一步扩大,最后针对中部地区城镇化空间格局的优化提出相应对策和建议。     

Why England? Demographic factors, structural change and physical capital accumulation during the Industrial Revolution

Why did England industrialize first? And why was Europe ahead of the rest of the world? Unified growth theory in the tradition of Galor and Weil (2000, American Economic Review, 89, 806–828) and Galor and Moav (2002, Quartely Journal of Economics, 177(4), 1133–1191) captures the key features of the transition from stagnation to growth over time. Yet we know remarkably little about why industrialization occurred much earlier in some parts of the world than in others. To answer this question, we present a probabilistic two-sector model where the initial escape from Malthusian constraints depends on the demographic regime, capital deepening and the use of more differentiated capital equipment. Weather-induced shocks to agricultural productivity cause changes in prices and quantities, and affect wages. In a standard model with capital externalities, these fluctuations interact with the demographic regime and affect the speed of growth. Our model is calibrated to match the main characteristics of the English economy in 1700 and the observed transition until 1850. We capture one of the key features of the British Industrial Revolution emphasized by economic historians — slow growth of output and productivity. Fertility limitation is responsible for higher per capita incomes, and these in turn increase industrialization probabilities. The paper also explores the availability of nutrition for poorer segments of society. We examine the influence of redistributive institutions such as the Old Poor Law, and find they were not decisive in fostering industrialization. Simulations using parameter values for other countries show that Britain’s early escape was only partly due to chance. France could have moved out of agriculture and into manufacturing faster than Britain, but the probability was less than 25%. Contrary to recent claims in the literature, 18th century China had only a minimal chance to escape from Malthusian constraints.