Impatience to Consume and Population Growth in a Simple Agrarian Economy
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- Impatience to Consume and Population Growth in a Simple Agrarian Economy
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This paper studies the relationship between population size and the rate of time preference (RTP) in pre-capitalist subsistence agricultural communities. The RTP is reflected in the community´s propensity to invest in and maintain new arable land that may be considered as an inherent characteristic of the considered community. Using a Malthusian framework, we show how communities with a low RTP end up with a high steady-state subsistence population compared to communities with a high RTP. Furthermore, unsustainable “optimum population” sizes are identified where consumption per capita has a maximal value. Finally, the paper shows that the population growth rate may have no bearing on the resulting subsistence steady-state population size. A population with a higher growth rate only reaches the subsistence steady-state population size faster and have a lower maximal consumption per capita along the path to the subsistence level.
Original language | English |
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Publisher | Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen |
Number of pages | 20 |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Series | IFRO Working Paper |
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Number | 2022/01 |
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ID: 291811620