Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/26309 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 2264
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
R&D-based growth theory suggests that a larger population size raises either the long-run rate of economic growth (strong scale effect) or the level of per capita income (weak scale effect), with far-reaching policy implications. However, for modern times there is little empirical support for strong scale effects and evidence in favor of weak scale effects is mixed, at best. This paper develops a simple overlapping-generations framework with endogenous occupational choice of heterogeneous agents and entrepreneurial innovations in which any form of scale effect is absent. A higher population growth rate has a negligible, possibly negative effect on the long-run growth rate of per capita income. Long-run growth is sustained also in absence of population growth and generally is policy-dependent.
Subjects: 
Economic growth
endogenous technical change
entrepreneurial skills
population growth
scale effects
JEL: 
O10
O30
O40
Document Type: 
Working Paper
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size
376.85 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.