Population, Wealth, and Renewable Resources

This chapter builds a general economic growth model with endogenous population, wealth, and renewable resources in a perfectively competitive economy. The model also endogenously determines the time distribution between work time, leisure time, and time for children fostering. The model is based on different models in the literature on economic growth with resources or population. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 6.1 defines the economic model with endogenous capital accumulation, resource dynamics, and population change. Section 6.2 shows that the motion of the economic system is described by three differential equations and simulates the model. Section 6.3 analyzes the changes in the system behavior when the propensity to have children is reduced. Section 6.4 illustrates how the economy is affected when the propensity to consume leisure is increased. Section 6.5 studies the economic dynamics when the propensity to consume resources is increased. Section 6.6 sees how the system changes its path when more time is required for foster children fostering. Section 6.7 studies the impact of changes in human capital on the national economy. Section 6.8 plots how the motion of the system is affected when resource capacity is expanded. Section 6.9 shows how a rise in the propensity to consume affects the system.