Mortality, the Trade-off Between Child Quality and Quantity,and Demo-Economic Development

Holger Strulik

Quantitative Macroeconomics Working Papers from Hamburg University, Department of Economics

Abstract: The paper investigates an economy where parents observe wage rates, interest rates, and child mortality and decide about savings and the quantity and quality of their children. Expenditure on child quality causes human capital accmulation as an external effect. If mortality is high parents prefer to have many children and spend only essential rearing effort. Without human capital accumulation the economy may stabilize in an equilibrium of economic stagnation and high population growth. If mortality is low parents prefer to have only few children and spend comparatively large fractions of income on their quality. With human capital accumulation the economy is capable of long-run growth. The paper also shows the possibility of an endogenously explained demographic transition and discusses a development aid program on education.

Keywords: Demographic Transition; Stages of Development; Economic Growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J10 J13 O11 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-10
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Journal Article: Mortality, the Trade‐off between Child Quality and Quantity, and Demo‐economic Development (2003)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ham:qmwops:19907

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