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We are used to calling most developing countries overpopulated and consi dering some industrialized countries (like West Germany) "threatened by underpopulation". Analogous population policies with different objecti ves are discussed. However, none of the measures suggested can be justi fied or evaluated without an implicit concept of optimum population, a notion which has attracted attention ever since economics was made a science. The relevance of the subject and the recent rise in interest by popula tion economists has motivated the organization of a conference on "Opti mal Population" in Bielefeld, where most of this book originates. Finan cial support for the conference and the publication of this book by the Thyssen Foundation and the editorial help provided by John De New and Contents Optimum Population: An Introduction K. F. Zimmermann ......... . I. Optimal Size and Growth Rate of Population Socially Optimal Population Size and Individual Choice M. Nerlove, A. Razin, and E. Sadka . . . . . . . 19 Endogenous Population With Discrete Family Size and a Capital Market D. Leonard .................. .

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Optimum Population: An Introduction.- I. Optimal Size and Growth Rate of Population.- Socially Optimal Population Size and Individual Choice.- Endogenous Population With Discrete Family Size and a Capital Market.- Is There an Optimal Growth Rate for Population?.- II. Technical Progress and Social Security.- Technological Change and Population Growth.- The Serendipity Theorem Reconsidered: The Three-Generations Case Without Inheritance.- III. Limited Resources.- Endogenous Population and Fixed Input in a Growth Model With Altruism.- On the Malthusian Hypothesis and the Dynamics of Population and Income in an Equilibrium Growth Model With Endogenous Fertility.- Choice of Fertility and Population Pressure in Traditional Rural Societies.- IV. International Economics.- Economic Interdependence and Optimum Population: An Examination of Meade´s Objection to the Individual Utility Criterion.- An Analysis of International Migration: The Unilateral Case.- Population, International Trade and Indebtedness: A More General Analysis.- Author Index.

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Prof. Dr. Klaus F. Zimmermann ist Direktor des Instituts zur Zukunft der Arbeit (IZA) und zugleich Präsident des Deutschen Instituts für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW Berlin).

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