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Impatience to Consume and Population Growth in a Simple Agrarian Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Eirik S. Amundsen

    (Department of Economics, University of Bergen
    Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen)

  • Anders Skonhoft

    (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between population size and the rate of time preference (RTP) in pre-capitalist subsistence agricultural communities. The RTP is reflected in the community´s propensity to invest in and maintain new arable land that may be considered as an inherent characteristic of the considered community. Using a Malthusian framework, we show how communities with a low RTP end up with a high steady-state subsistence population compared to communities with a high RTP. Furthermore, unsustainable “optimum population” sizes are identified where consumption per capita has a maximal value. Finally, the paper shows that the population growth rate may have no bearing on the resulting subsistence steady-state population size. A population with a higher growth rate only reaches the subsistence steady-state population size faster and have a lower maximal consumption per capita along the path to the subsistence level.

Suggested Citation

  • Eirik S. Amundsen & Anders Skonhoft, 2022. "Impatience to Consume and Population Growth in a Simple Agrarian Economy," IFRO Working Paper 2022/01, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:foi:wpaper:2022_01
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    File URL: http://okonomi.foi.dk/workingpapers/WPpdf/WP2022/IFRO_WP_2022_01.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Population growth; Malthusian model; Rate of time preference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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