Impatience to Consume and Population Growth in a Simple Agrarian Economy
Publikation: Working paper › Forskning
Dokumenter
- Impatience to Consume and Population Growth in a Simple Agrarian Economy
Forlagets udgivne version, 585 KB, PDF-dokument
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.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
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Udgiver | Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen |
Antal sider | 20 |
Status | Udgivet - 2022 |
Navn | IFRO Working Paper |
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Nummer | 2022/01 |
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