IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/spr/lnechp/978-3-319-75169-6_16.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Optimal Population Growth as an Endogenous Discounting Problem: The Ramsey Case

In: Control Systems and Mathematical Methods in Economics

Author

Listed:
  • Raouf Boucekkine

    (CNRS, EHESS, Centrale Marseille, AMSE and IMRA
    Senior member, IUF)

  • Blanca Martínez

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid
    Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico (ICAE))

  • J. Ramon Ruiz-Tamarit

    (Universitat de València
    Université Catholique de Louvain)

Abstract

This paper revisits the optimal population size problem in a continuous time Ramsey setting with costly child rearing and both intergenerational and intertemporal altruism. The social welfare functions considered range from the Millian to the Benthamite. When population growth is endogenized, the associated optimal control problem involves an endogenous effective discount rate depending on past and current population growth rates, which makes preferences intertemporally dependent. We tackle this problem by using an appropriate maximum principle. Then we study the stationary solutions (balanced growth paths) and show the existence of two admissible solutions except in the Millian case. We prove that only one is optimal. Comparative statics and transitional dynamics are numerically derived in the general case.

Suggested Citation

  • Raouf Boucekkine & Blanca Martínez & J. Ramon Ruiz-Tamarit, 2018. "Optimal Population Growth as an Endogenous Discounting Problem: The Ramsey Case," Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, in: Gustav Feichtinger & Raimund M. Kovacevic & Gernot Tragler (ed.), Control Systems and Mathematical Methods in Economics, pages 321-347, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:lnechp:978-3-319-75169-6_16
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-75169-6_16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Suresh P. Sethi, 2021. "Optimal Control Theory," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, Springer, edition 4, number 978-3-030-91745-6, June.
    2. Boucekkine Raouf & Ruiz Tamarit Ramon, 2004. "Imbalance Effects in the Lucas Model: an Analytical Exploration," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Raouf Boucekkine & Giorgio Fabbri, 2013. "Assessing Parfit’s Repugnant Conclusion within a canonical endogenous growth set-up," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 751-767, April.
    4. Raouf Boucekkine & Blanca Martinez & Ramon Ruiz-Tamarit, 2013. "Optimal Sustainable Policies under Pollution Ceiling: The Demographic Side," AMSE Working Papers 1354, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France, revised 04 Nov 2013.
    5. Kenneth Arrow & Partha Dasgupta & Lawrence Goulder & Gretchen Daily & Paul Ehrlich & Geoffrey Heal & Simon Levin & Karl-Göran Mäler & Stephen Schneider & David Starrett & Brian Walker, 2004. "Are We Consuming Too Much?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(3), pages 147-172, Summer.
    6. Marín-Solano, Jesús & Navas, Jorge, 2009. "Non-constant discounting in finite horizon: The free terminal time case," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 666-675, March.
    7. Palivos, Theodore & Yip, Chong K., 1993. "Optimal population size and endogenous growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 107-110.
    8. Le Kama, Alain Ayong & Schubert, Katheline, 2007. "A Note On The Consequences Of An Endogenous Discounting Depending On The Environmental Quality," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 272-289, April.
    9. Barro, Robert J & Becker, Gary S, 1989. "Fertility Choice in a Model of Economic Growth," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 481-501, March.
    10. Marietta A. Constantinides, 1988. "Optimal Population Growth and the Social Welfare Function," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 229-238, Jul-Sep.
    11. Raouf Boucekkine & Blanca Martínez & José Ramón Ruiz‐Tamarit, 2008. "Note on global dynamics and imbalance effects in the Lucas–Uzawa model," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 4(4), pages 503-518, December.
    12. Erik Canton & Lex Meijdam, 1997. "Altruism and the macroeconomic effects of demographic changes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 10(3), pages 317-334.
    13. Caballe, Jordi & Santos, Manuel S, 1993. "On Endogenous Growth with Physical and Human Capital," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(6), pages 1042-1067, December.
    14. Miguel-Angel Martín & Agustín Herranz, 2004. "Human capital and economic growth in Spanish regions," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 10(4), pages 257-264, November.
    15. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2011. "Endogenous discounting and the domain of the felicity function," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 574-581, January.
    16. Boucekkine, R. & Fabbri, G. & Gozzi, F., 2014. "Egalitarianism under population change: Age structure does matter," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 86-100.
    17. Karen Pittel, 2002. "Sustainability and Endogenous Growth," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2776.
    18. Obstfeld, Maurice, 1990. "Intertemporal dependence, impatience, and dynamics," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 45-75, August.
    19. David de la Croix & Matthias Doepke, 2003. "Inequality and Growth: Why Differential Fertility Matters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1091-1113, September.
    20. Razin, Assaf & Yuen, Chi-Wa, 1995. "Utilitarian Tradeoff between Population Growth and Income Growth," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 81-87, February.
    21. P. S. Dasgupta, 1969. "On the Concept of Optimum Population," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 36(3), pages 295-318.
    22. Palivos, Theodore & Wang, Ping & Zhang, Jianbo, 1997. "On the Existence of Balanced Growth Equilibrium," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 38(1), pages 205-224, February.
    23. Marc Nerlove & Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka, 1985. "Population Size: Individual Choice and Social Optima," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(2), pages 321-334.
    24. Nairay, Alain, 1984. "Asymptotic behavior and optimal properties of a consumption-investment model with variable time preference," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 283-313, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. de la Croix, David & Doepke, Matthias, 2021. "A soul’s view of the optimal population problem," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 98-108.
    2. Goenka, Aditya & Liu, Lin & Nguyen, Manh-Hung, 2021. "SIR economic epidemiological models with disease induced mortality," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. d’Albis, Hippolyte & Augeraud-Véron, Emmanuelle, 2021. "Optimal prevention and elimination of infectious diseases," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Ziesemer, Thomas, 2018. "The serendipity theorem for an endogenous open economy growth model," MERIT Working Papers 2018-001, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    5. F. J. Escribá-Pérez & M. J. Murgui-García & J. R. Ruiz-Tamarit, 2017. "Economic and Statistical Measurement of Physical Capital with an Application to the Spanish Economy," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2017020, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    6. Escribá-Pérez, F.J. & Murgui-García, M.J. & Ruiz-Tamarit, J.R., 2018. "Economic and statistical measurement of physical capital: From theory to practice," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 246-255.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Boucekkine, R. & Martínez, B. & Ruiz-Tamarit, J.R., 2013. "Growth vs. level effect of population change on economic development: An inspection into human-capital-related mechanisms," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 312-334.
    2. Nicholas Lawson & Dean Spears, 2018. "Optimal population and exhaustible resource constraints," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 295-335, January.
    3. Stelter, Robert, 2016. "Over-aging — Are present-day human populations too old?," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 116-143.
    4. Boucekkine, R. & Fabbri, G. & Gozzi, F., 2014. "Egalitarianism under population change: Age structure does matter," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 86-100.
    5. Schumacher, Ingmar, 2011. "Endogenous discounting and the domain of the felicity function," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 574-581, January.
    6. Chu, Hsun & Lai, Ching-chong & Liao, Chih-hsing, 2016. "A Note On Environment-Dependent Time Preferences," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(6), pages 1652-1667, September.
    7. Marsiglio, Simone, 2014. "Reassessing Edgeworth’s conjecture when population dynamics is stochastic," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 130-140.
    8. Raouf Boucekkine & Giorgio Fabbri & Fausto Gozzi, 2010. "Life span and the problem of optimal population size," Working Papers halshs-00536073, HAL.
    9. Vella, Eugenia & Dioikitopoulos, Evangelos V. & Kalyvitis, Sarantis, 2015. "Green Spending Reforms, Growth, And Welfare With Endogenous Subjective Discounting," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(6), pages 1240-1260, September.
    10. Stelter, Robert, 2014. "Over-aging: Are present human populations too old?," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 137, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    11. Raouf Boucekkine & Giorgio Fabbri & Fausto Gozzi, 2012. "Egalitarism under Population Change. The Role of Growth and Lifetime Span," AMSE Working Papers 1211, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    12. Stéphane Zuber, 2018. "Population-adjusted egalitarianism," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01937766, HAL.
    13. Raouf Boucekkine & Giorgio Fabbri, 2013. "Assessing Parfit’s Repugnant Conclusion within a canonical endogenous growth set-up," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 751-767, April.
    14. Méjean, Aurélie & Pottier, Antonin & Zuber, Stéphane & Fleurbaey, Marc, 2023. "Opposite ethical views converge under the threat of catastrophic climate change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    15. Bouché, Stéphane, 2017. "Learning by doing, endogenous discounting and economic development," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 34-43.
    16. Simone Marsiglio, 2017. "A simple endogenous growth model with endogenous fertility and environmental concern," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(3), pages 263-282, July.
    17. Pittel Karen, 2005. "Diskontraten: Endogen oder nicht endogen? / Disounting: Endogenous or not Endogenous?: Eine umweltrelevante Fragestellung / Implications for the Environment," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 225(4), pages 441-458, August.
    18. Escribá-Pérez, F.J. & Murgui-García, M.J. & Ruiz-Tamarit, J.R., 2018. "Economic and statistical measurement of physical capital: From theory to practice," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 246-255.
    19. Kohei Kamaga, 2016. "Infinite-horizon social evaluation with variable population size," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 47(1), pages 207-232, June.
    20. F. J. Escribá-Pérez & M. J. Murgui-García & J. R. Ruiz-Tamarit, 2017. "Economic and Statistical Measurement of Physical Capital with an Application to the Spanish Economy," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2017020, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • C62 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:lnechp:978-3-319-75169-6_16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.