Population Growth and Inequality Over the Long Run

Population growth is an important issue in economic analysis: it not only directly affects the size of the aggregate demand, but it also matters for economic growth analysis. Moreover, population growth has outcomes for the study of inequality. It results in a larger size of labor supply and higher consumption prices. Therefore, a consequence is a decrease of real wages and as a result an increase of inequality. Inequality may also be framed in institutional terms, and we also propose to decompose inequality in two main components: institutional and caused by labor market forces.

Related topics to population growth are human capital (health and education) and technological change. Health levels directly affect life expectancies while education has a lot of implications on fertility and female paid activity. The frequencies of technological change increase as far as population size grows and markets are larger, storing more knowledge, scientists and innovators.

During the BSE Summer Forum Workshop on Population Growth and Inequality Over the Long Run, we plan to analyze past, present and future patterns of population growth, from the Malthusian period to the demographic transitions and current population ageing in developed countries, any period any geographical area.