Population growth and structural transformation

Chi Pui Ho

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Population growth induces structural transformation. We posit two-sector growth models where land is a fixed production factor. When two sectoral goods are consumption complements, population growth pushes production factors towards the sector with stronger diminishing returns to labor through the relative price effect. We clarify conditions when production factors “embrace the land” and “escape from land” throughout development, and the models’ asymptotic growth paths. We calibrate the models to simulate sectoral shifts in pre-industrial England and modern United States. In both cases, relying solely on relative price effects (population growth, technological progress and capital deepening) predicts too slow structural transformation.

Keywords: Structural transformation; Population growth effect; Relative price effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E1 N1 O5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-11-19
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-fdg, nep-gro and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/73860/1/MPRA_paper_73860.pdf revised version (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:68014

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