Brad DeLong's Notes of Jan de Vries on Historical Demography

Jan de Vries on Historical Demography

Policy questions and historical research advances

• How does pop growth affect exon growth?
• In what demographic setting did exon growth emerge?

A Malthusian world?

• Models
• Realities
• High vs. low pressure
• Eueipean marriage pattern
• Really a "motionless" society?

The Demographic Transition

• How did it start? Exog or endog?
• Why fertility decline when?
• How does the transition end?

American Exceptionalism?

• Malthus in a benign environment
• Antebellum puzzles
• Declining fertility--target and strategic bequests
• Rising mortality
• Immigration
• Baby booms and busts: echoes