Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/93605 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
Staff Report No. 639
Publisher: 
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York, NY
Abstract: 
This paper develops a simple dynamic model to examine the breakout from a Malthusian economy to a modern growth regime. It identifies several factors that determine the fastest rate at which the population can grow without engendering declining living standards; this is termed maximum sustainable population growth. We then apply the framework to Britain and find a dramatic increase in sustainable population growth at the time of the Industrial Revolution, well before the beginning of modern levels of income growth. The main contributions to the British breakout were technological improvements and structural change away from agricultural production, while coal, capital, and trade played a minor role.
Subjects: 
Industrial Revolution
Malthusian dynamics
maximum sustainable population growth
development
demographics
JEL: 
N13
N33
O1
O41
O52
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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