Depopulation and importance of agriculture in Japan: implications from the overlapping generations and general equilibrium growth accounting model

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Kobe, Japan We investigate the effects of demographic change on agriculture and nonagriculture in Japan while considering capital accumulation and total population and labour. Combining the overlapping generations model with the three generations and general equilibrium growth accounting models, we simulate the effect of demographic change on agricultural and nonagricultural inputs and outputs. Our simulation analyses show that demographic change greatly influenced agriculture and nonagriculture through capital accumulation although the influences of total population and labour were not negligible. Remarkable demographic dividends like the decline of young dependents and increase of adult longevity greatly influenced capital accumulation in Japan in the 1950s to the 1990s, which decreased the importance of agriculture. In the future, aggregate capital in Japan will presumably decrease due to a decline of the working age population, which may result in the disappearance of the advantages of nonagriculture and an increase of the importance of agriculture. Terms of use: Documents in

Depopulated and Abandoned Areas in Serbia in the 21st Century—From a Local to a National Problem

“…Liaw [42] argues that migration is a consequence of the lack of "economic and educational opportunities for the local population". Recent studies [43] have proven that demographic changes in the rural areas of Japan affect the importance of agriculture in the economic structure and the accumulation of capital.…”

“…A similar trend was recorded in the territory of the South Morava River basin. In the South Morava basin (Southern Serbia), in the period 1961-2011, the number of inhabitants decreased on average by 0.87% per year, agricultural land decreased by 1.2%, and arable land by about 1% per year [43]. After more than a century, depopulated areas are being investigated as a process that can lead to problems in the ecological, economic and sociological domain of the region and the country.…”