Journal Article
Population Growth and Technological Change: One Million B.C. to 1990
Michael Kremer
The Quarterly Journal of Economics
Vol. 108, No. 3 (Aug., 1993), pp. 681-716
Published
by: Oxford University Press
DOI: 10.2307/2118405
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2118405
Page Count: 36
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Topics: Population growth rate, Economic growth rate, Technological change, Economic growth models, Productivity, Socioeconomics, Population estimates
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Abstract
The nonrivalry of technology, as modeled in the endogenous growth literature, implies that high population spurs technological change. This paper constructs and empirically tests a model of long-run world population growth combining this implication with the Malthusian assumption that technology limits population. The model predicts that over most of history, the growth rate of population will be proportional to its level. Empirical tests support this prediction and show that historically, among societies with no possibility for technological contact, those with larger initial populations have had faster technological change and population growth.
The Quarterly Journal of Economics © 1993 Oxford University Press
