Samuelson's Contributions to Population Theory and Overlapping Generations in Economics

Ronald Lee

No 12442, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Paul Samuelson made a series of important contributions to population theory for humans and other species, evolutionary theory, and the theory of age structured life cycles in economic equilibrium and growth. The work is highly abstract but much of it was intended to illuminate issues of compelling policy importance, such as declining fertility and population aging. While his work in population economics has been very influential, his work in population and evolution appears to have been largely overlooked, perhaps because he seldom published in demographic journals or went to population meetings. Here I discuss his many contributions in all these areas, but give particular attention to demographic aspects of his famous work on overlapping generation models, social security systems, and population growth.

Keywords: intergenerational transfers; population cycles; reproductive value; population growth rate; social security; overlapping generations; Samuelson; predator-prey; altruism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D64 H55 J11 J18 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2019-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-dem, nep-dge, nep-gro, nep-his and nep-hpe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Robert A. Cord, Richard G. Anderson, William A. Barnett (eds.), Paul Samuelson Master of Modern Economics, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, 471-495

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