Economists Optimistic Re Population

Robin Hanson (hanson@econ.Berkeley.EDU)
Mon, 22 Jun 1998 12:55:20 -0700


"Toward a Cure for the Myopia and Tunnel Vision of the
Population Debate: A Dose of Historical Perspective"

BY: ALLEN C. KELLEY
Duke University
ROBERT M. SCHMIDT
University of Richmond

SSRN Electronic Document Delivery:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=44660

Paper ID: Duke Economics Working Paper #95-10

Contact: Robert M. Schmidt
E-Mail: MAILTO:schmidt@urvac.urich.edu
Postal: University of Richmond, E. Claiborne Robins
School of Business, Richmond, Virginia 23173
USA
Phone: (804) 740 9070
Fax: (804) 289 8878
Co-Auth: MAILTO:kelley@econ.duke.edu

A survey of the literature by economists specializing in
population issues reveals a distinctly non-alarmist
assessment of the impacts of rapid population growth. This
is contrary to the assessments by non-specialists, and
those in other fields. Economists tend to emphasize
longer-run impacts, where feedbacks tend to attenuate
negative short-run impacts of rapid demographic change.

JEL Classification: J2, O4
__________________

Robin Hanson
hanson@econ.berkeley.edu http://hanson.berkeley.edu/
RWJF Health Policy Scholar, Sch. of Public Health 510-643-1884
140 Warren Hall, UC Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 FAX: 510-643-2627