Books by David (Universite Catholique de Louvain de la Croix

Fertility choices depend not only on the surrounding culture but also on economic incentives, which have important consequences for inequality, education and sustainability. This book outlines parallels between demographic development and economic outcomes, explaining how fertility, growth and inequality are related. It provides a set of general equilibrium models where households choose their number of children, analysed in four domains. First, inequality is particularly damaging for growth as human capital is kept low by the mass of grown-up children stemming from poor families. Second, the cost of education can be an important determining factor on fertility. Third, fertility is sometimes viewed as a strategic variable in the power struggle between different cultural, ethnic and religious groups. Finally, fertility might be affected by policies targeted at other objectives. Incorporating new findings with the discussion of education policy and sustainability, this book is a significant addition to the literature on growth.

Provides an in-depth treatment of the overlapping generations model in economics incorporating production. Chapter 1 investigates competitive equilibria and corresponding dynamics: existence and uniqueness of equilibrium, global dynamics of capital (including poverty traps), and various extensions of the model. Chapter 2 analyzes the optimality of allocations in this framework, using both the value function and marginal approaches. Optimality with unbounded growth is also analyzed. Policy issues including the Second Welfare Theorem, pensions, government spending, and optimal taxation, are discussed in chapter 3. The notion of public debt is introduced in chapter 4 and the sustainability of policies with budget deficits/surpluses is examined. The last chapter presents extensions of the model including altruism, education/human capital, and habit formation. Methodological emphasis is put on using general preferences and technologies, on the global study of dynamic aspects of the model, and on furnishing adequate tools to analyze policies involving inter-generational transfers.