LEARNING-BY-DOING, POPULATION PRESSURE, AND THE THEORY OF DEMOGRAPHIC-TRANSITION

The present paper discusses the long-run effects of two interdependent relations between economic and population growth. According to a freq uently used formulation of the population-push hypothesis, learning-by -doing effects in production lead to increasing returns to scale and, therefore, to a positive correlation between economic and population g rowth. In accordance to the theory of demographic transition the popul ation growth rate initially increases with rising income levels and th en declines. Regarding this relationship, the existence and stability of a low-income equilibrium and a high-income equilibrium will be show n in a neoclassical growth model. Under plausible conditions a demo-ec onomic transition from the first to the second steady-state takes plac e. The result yields a meaningful interpretation of the population-pus h hypothesis, which is consistent with the empirical findings on the c orrelation between economic and population growth.