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44
Unified Growth Theory
, 2011
"... This paper develops the theoretical foundations and the testable implications of the various mechanisms that have been proposed as possible triggers for the demographic transition. Moreover, it examines the empirical validity of each of the theories and their signi…cance for the understanding of the ..."
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Cited by 93 (14 self)
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This paper develops the theoretical foundations and the testable implications of the various mechanisms that have been proposed as possible triggers for the demographic transition. Moreover, it examines the empirical validity of each of the theories and their signi…cance for the understanding of the transition from stagnation to growth. The analysis suggests that the rise in the demand for human capital in the process of development was the main trigger for the decline in fertility and the transition to modern growth
Longevity and lifetime labor supply: evidence and implications
- Econometrica
, 2009
"... Conventional wisdom suggests that increased life expectancy had a key role in caus-ing a rise in investment in human capital. I incorporate the retirement decision into a version of Ben-Porath’s (1967) model and find that a necessary condition for this causal relationship to hold is that increased l ..."
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Cited by 28 (1 self)
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Conventional wisdom suggests that increased life expectancy had a key role in caus-ing a rise in investment in human capital. I incorporate the retirement decision into a version of Ben-Porath’s (1967) model and find that a necessary condition for this causal relationship to hold is that increased life expectancy will also increase lifetime labor supply. I then show that this condition does not hold for American men born between
Vintage Capital Growth Theory: Three Breakthroughs. Unpublished Working Paper. Barcelona GSE
, 2011
"... Vintage capital growth models have been at the heart of growth theory in the 60s. This research line collapsed in the late 60s with the so-called embodiment controversy and the technical sophisitication of the vintage models. This paper analyzes the astonishing revival of this literature in the 90s. ..."
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Cited by 7 (1 self)
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Vintage capital growth models have been at the heart of growth theory in the 60s. This research line collapsed in the late 60s with the so-called embodiment controversy and the technical sophisitication of the vintage models. This paper analyzes the astonishing revival of this literature in the 90s. In particular, it out-lines three methodological breakthroughs explaining this resurgence: a growth accounting revolution, taking advantage of the availability of new time series, an optimal control revolution allowing to safely study vintage capital optimal growth models, and a vintage human capital revolution, along with the rise of economic demography, accounting for the vintage structure of human capital similarly to physical capital age structuring. The related literature is surveyed.
Population ageing and endogenous economic growth
- Journal of Population Economics
, 2013
"... .H\ZRUGV ..."
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Formal education and public knowledge
- Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control
, 2011
"... In this paper, I examine the transitional dynamics of an economy populated by individuals who split their time between acquiring a formal education, producing
nal goods, and innovating. The paper has two objectives: (i) uncovering the macroeconomic circumstances that favored the rise of formal educ ..."
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Cited by 5 (0 self)
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In this paper, I examine the transitional dynamics of an economy populated by individuals who split their time between acquiring a formal education, producing
nal goods, and innovating. The paper has two objectives: (i) uncovering the macroeconomic circumstances that favored the rise of formal education; (ii) to reconcile the remarkable growth of the education sector with the constancy of other key macroeconomic variables, such as the interest rate, the consumption-output ratio, and the growth rate of per capita income (Kaldor facts). The transitional dynamics of human capital growth models, such as Lucas (1988), would attribute the arrival of education to the diminishing marginal productivity of physical capital. Conversely, the model proposed here suggests that it is the rate of learning that catches up with the rate of return on physical capital. As technical knowledge expands, the rate of return on education increases, inducing individuals to stay longer in school. The models transitional paths are matched with long run U.S. educational and economic data.
Life Expectancy, Labor Supply, and Long-Run Growth: Reconciling Theory and Evidence
, 2012
"... We set up a simple overlapping generation model that allows us to distinguish between life expectancy and active life expectancy. We show that individuals optimally adjust to a longer active life by educating more and, if the labor supply elasticity is high enough, by supplying less labor. When cali ..."
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Cited by 3 (1 self)
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We set up a simple overlapping generation model that allows us to distinguish between life expectancy and active life expectancy. We show that individuals optimally adjust to a longer active life by educating more and, if the labor supply elasticity is high enough, by supplying less labor. When calibrated to US data the model explains the historical evolution of increasing education and declining labor supply (of cohorts born 1850-1950) as an optimal response to increasing active life expectancy. We integrate the theory into a unified growth model and reestablish increasing life expectancy as an engine of long-run economic development.
Longevity and Lifetime Labor Input: Data and Implications ∗
, 2007
"... The Ben-Porath (1967) model suggests that a rise in life expectancy, and the associated rise in the lifetime labor input, brings about a rise in investment in human capital. We incorporate the leisure decision into the model and develop a necessary condition regarding the lifetime labor input for th ..."
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Cited by 3 (1 self)
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The Ben-Porath (1967) model suggests that a rise in life expectancy, and the associated rise in the lifetime labor input, brings about a rise in investment in human capital. We incorporate the leisure decision into the model and develop a necessary condition regarding the lifetime labor input for the Ben-Porath mechanism to have a positive effect on investment in human capital. We show that this condition does not hold for American men born
Limited Life Expectancy, Human Capital and Health Investments: Evidence from Huntington Disease. Working Paper
, 2012
"... Human capital theory predicts that life expectancy will impact human capital attainment. We estimate this relationship using variation in life expectancy driven by Huntington disease, an inherited neurological disorder. We compare investments for individuals who have ex-ante identical risks of HD bu ..."
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Cited by 3 (0 self)
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Human capital theory predicts that life expectancy will impact human capital attainment. We estimate this relationship using variation in life expectancy driven by Huntington disease, an inherited neurological disorder. We compare investments for individuals who have ex-ante identical risks of HD but differ in disease realization. Individuals with the HD mutation complete less education and job training. The elasticity of demand for college attendance with respect to life expectancy is around 1.0. We relate this to cross-country and over-time differences in education. We use smoking and cancer screening data to test the corollary that health capital responds to life expectancy. 1
of LaborThe Economic and Demographic Transition, Mortality, and Comparative Development
, 2013
"... Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The ..."
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Cited by 3 (0 self)
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Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be
Life expectancy and schooling: New insights from cross-country data
"... Abstract I argue that the relationship between life expectancy and schooling crucially depends on which measure of life-expectancy one uses. In particular, I show that while the change in life expectancy at birth between 1960 and 1990 is positively correlated with percentage change in schooling, th ..."
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Cited by 2 (0 self)
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Abstract I argue that the relationship between life expectancy and schooling crucially depends on which measure of life-expectancy one uses. In particular, I show that while the change in life expectancy at birth between 1960 and 1990 is positively correlated with percentage change in schooling, the change in life expectancy at age 5 is, at best, uncorrelated with percentage change in schooling. This evidence suggests that increasing life horizon beyond the early crucial childhood years for formal acquisition of human capital is not as quantitatively important as previously thought. JEL Classification: J24, O11.
