Life Expectancy and Economic Growth : The Role of the Demographic Transition
Series
IZA Discussion Paper
Type
discussion paper
Date Issued
2009-05-05
Author(s)
Sunde, Uwe
Abstract
This paper investigates the causal effect of life expectancy on economic growth by explicitly accounting for the role of the demographic transition. We present a simple microfounded theory of the economic and demographic transition that predicts that improvements in life expectancy primarily mainly increase population before the demographic transition, but reduce population growth and foster human capital accumulation after the demographic transition. A sufficiently high life expectancy is ultimately the trigger of the transition to sustained income growth. We provide evidence supporting these predictions using data on exogenous mortality reductions in the context of the epidemiological revolution.
Language
English
Keywords
Life Expectancy
Demographic Transition
Epidemiological Revolution
Heterogeneous Treatment Effects
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
IZA
Number
4160
Start page
51
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
56565