气候变化视角下的马尔萨斯

Malthus in the light of climate change

European Economic Review · 2020
被引 27
人大 AABS 3

中文导读

构建了一个包含资源开采、知识资本投资、气候变化和内生生育的多部门增长模型,发现稳态下气候变化与人口增长无关,人口政策可能适得其反。

Abstract

To reconsider the Malthusian predictions of natural limits to economic development, the paper develops a multi-sector growth model with exhaustible resource extraction, investments in physical and knowledge capital, climate change, and endogenous fertility. Economic growth is driven by endogenous innovations which increase in the availability and productivity of research labour. Poor substitution of natural resources triggers sectoral change. Climate change is the result of polluting resource use which is, like consumption and investments, based on the intertemporal optimization of the households. Highlighting the importance of bounded resource supply and of rational extraction decisions I show that climate change is independent of population growth in steady state and there is no causal relationship between climate and population during transition to steady state. The consumption per capita growth rate rises in the innovation rate and the output elasticities of labour and capital in the different sectors. Unlike climate policy, population policy is not warranted; it may be counterproductive because labour is crucial for the research sector.

马尔萨斯模型气候变化内生创新资源耗竭