Optimal population and policy implications
Date
Authors
Major Professor
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Altmetrics
Authors
Research Projects
Organizational Units
The Department of Economic Science was founded in 1898 to teach economic theory as a truth of industrial life, and was very much concerned with applying economics to business and industry, particularly agriculture. Between 1910 and 1967 it showed the growing influence of other social studies, such as sociology, history, and political science. Today it encompasses the majors of Agricultural Business (preparing for agricultural finance and management), Business Economics, and Economics (for advanced studies in business or economics or for careers in financing, management, insurance, etc).
History
The Department of Economic Science was founded in 1898 under the Division of Industrial Science (later College of Liberal Arts and Sciences); it became co-directed by the Division of Agriculture in 1919. In 1910 it became the Department of Economics and Political Science. In 1913 it became the Department of Applied Economics and Social Science; in 1924 it became the Department of Economics, History, and Sociology; in 1931 it became the Department of Economics and Sociology. In 1967 it became the Department of Economics, and in 2007 it became co-directed by the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Business.
Dates of Existence
1898–present
Historical Names
- Department of Economic Science (1898–1910)
- Department of Economics and Political Science (1910-1913)
- Department of Applied Economics and Social Science (1913–1924)
- Department of Economics, History and Sociology (1924–1931)
- Department of Economics and Sociology (1931–1967)
Related Units
- College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (parent college)
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
- College of Business (parent college)
Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
Department
Abstract
This dissertation explores issues of efficient and inefficient population in complete and incomplete market economies with altruistic parents who cares about the welfare of their children. Altruistic models with idiosyncratic risks are central to modern macroeconomics, particularly when studying issues of inequality and redistribution. But this framework seems to fall apart when serious consideration is given to fertility decisions as Barro and Becker (1989) because some of the most appealing conclusions obtained under the exogenous fertility assumption are seriously altered. For example, optimal fertility choice tends to eliminate intergenerational persistence of inequality. A main goal of this dissertation is to recover key features of demographic facts using micro-founded macroeconomic theory and quantitative approaches, and to derive normative analysis regarding efficiency of population, long run inequality, education, and demographic policies. The consensus of my research is that family decisions made by altruistic parents have substantial aggregate socioeconomic consequences in dynamic environments.