On the cusp : from population boom to bust / Charles S. Pearson
- Author
- Pearson, Charles S.
- Published
- New York : Oxford University Press, 2015.
- Physical Description
- 1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)
Access Online
- Oxford scholarship online: ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu
- Contents
- Machine generated contents note: 1.Introduction -- Precis -- The Bones of the Book -- A Roadmap -- 2.The Long and Baleful Shadow of Thomas Robert Malthus -- Malthus's Big Idea -- Reactions and Influence -- Malthus Eclipsed -- An Aborted Revival -- 3.Malthus Redux -- Malthus and Development (Malthus Transposed to the South) -- Malthus as a Prophet of Limits to Growth -- The Environmental Era -- Does Malthus Still Speak to Us? -- 4.Population and Economic Growth -- Working Backwards: From the Classical Model to Adam Smith -- Mid-Twentieth-Century Modeling -- Second Thoughts in Subsequent Decades -- Growth and Population: Back to the Main Stream -- New Growth Theory -- Summing Up: Traps and Escape Mechanisms -- 5.Optimal Population: An Attractive Chimera? -- Early Views -- Population Ethics and the Repugnant Conclusion -- Resources, Carrying Capacity, and Sustainability -- Reproductive Externalities -- Conclusions: Three Strikes and Three Misses -- 6.Demographic Transitions -- A Quick Sketch -- Quirks of Measurement and New Issues -- Theories of the Demographic Transition -- Economic Implications: A Demographic Bonus and Subsequent Burden -- Looking Ahead: How Will It End? -- 7.The Upside of Downsizing -- Population, Affluence, and Global Warming -- Population and Climate: Policy Matters -- Food Prospects -- Conclusions -- 8.Downsizing: The Pessimist's Case -- Mining the Past -- A Framework for Data and Analysis -- Linking Aging and Productivity -- Does Size Matter? -- 9.Aging: Retirement, Health, and the Generational Bargain -- Intergenerational Transfers: A Visual Metaphor -- The Generational Bargain -- Fragility and Fairness -- Quantifying "Fairness" by Birth Cohort -- Financing Aging: Retirement -- Health and Long-Term Care -- More Downsides? -- 10.Coping Strategies -- Preliminaries -- A Troubling Complication -- Examining the Toolbox -- Can Less Be More? The De-growth Alternative -- 11.Concluding Thoughts -- In Retrospect -- In Prospect -- References.
- Summary
- This study traces world population growth and (prospective) decline using the lens of economic demography. The starting point is the flawed theory of Malthus in 1798; the end point is unknown, but most probably features global aging and depopulation. While the Malthusian overpopulation threat of the post World War II decades has been thwarted, its obverse, fertility rates plunging below replacement level, creates new challenges.
- Subject(s)
- ISBN
- 9780190223946 (ebook)
- Bibliography Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
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