Economic Demography

There is a long tradition of research on population and economics. The work of Thomas Malthus is well-known, but other early economists, including William Petty and William Godwin, were concerned about the economic effects of population growth. Interest in the links between population and economics was rekindled during the great depression and was featured prominently in the writing of John Maynard Keynes. Rapid population growth during the second half of the 20th Century led to renewed interest in the development effects of population growth. The consequences of population aging has emerged as an active research area as countries have entered the later stages of the demographic transition. In contrast to the long-standing interest in the economic consequences of demographic change, there has been a more recent explosion of interest in demographic behavior. Few economists recognized the applicability of economic models to the kinds of social behavior that traditionally has been the bread and butter of sociologists and social demographers. Influenced most by the work of Gary Becker, economists are increasingly interested in marriage, divorce, childbearing, sexual behavior, and other social activities