Population, population density and technological change

Klasen, Stephan; Nestmann, Thorsten

doi:10.1007/s00148-005-0031-1

Cited by 75 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…However, while θ is non-zero, it produces a negative correction to standard agglomeration exponents, making them effectively weaker. If we write the productivity of a city as proportional to its connectivity [ 88 , 89 ], and use the expressions from the social reactor model (above), we conclude that, in the case when the restrictive effect of institutions is small but non-zero, the built up area of the city scales as: …”

Section: Models Of Social and Spatial Organization In Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population-Area Relationship for Medieval European Cities

et al. 2016

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Medieval European urbanization presents a line of continuity between earlier cities and modern European urban systems. Yet, many of the spatial, political and economic features of medieval European cities were particular to the Middle Ages, and subsequently changed over the Early Modern Period and Industrial Revolution. There is a long tradition of demographic studies estimating the population sizes of medieval European cities, and comparative analyses of these data have shed much light on the long-term evolution of urban systems. However, the next step—to systematically relate the population size of these cities to their spatial and socioeconomic characteristics—has seldom been taken. This raises a series of interesting questions, as both modern and ancient cities have been observed to obey area-population relationships predicted by settlement scaling theory. To address these questions, we analyze a new dataset for the settled area and population of 173 European cities from the early fourteenth century to determine the relationship between population and settled area. To interpret this data, we develop two related models that lead to differing predictions regarding the quantitative form of the population-area relationship, depending on the level of social mixing present in these cities. Our empirical estimates of model parameters show a strong densification of cities with city population size, consistent with patterns in contemporary cities. Although social life in medieval Europe was orchestrated by hierarchical institutions (e.g., guilds, church, municipal organizations), our results show no statistically significant influence of these institutions on agglomeration effects. The similarities between the empirical patterns of settlement relating area to population observed here support the hypothesis that cities throughout history share common principles of organization that self-consistently relate their socioeconomic networks to structured urban spaces.

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Section: Models Of Social and Spatial Organization In Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population-Area Relationship for Medieval European Cities

et al. 2016

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“…42 Population for individual countries is from McEvedy and Jones (1978), and regional aggregates are from Klasen and Nestmann (2004). "China" is China proper, that is, excluding Mongolia, Turkestan, and Tibet.…”

Section: Initial Stocks Of L-capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

From families to formal contracts: An approach to development

Kumar¹,

Matsusaka²

2009

Journal of Development Economics

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“…The inclusion of Boserup's theory in long-run growth models is not entirely new. For example, Lee (1988) proposes a Boserupian construction by which greater population density encourages technical progress; Strulik (1997) employs a learning-by-doing mechanism that acts as a positive externality, which increases with the size of the population and helps it to overcome diminishing returns to labour; Klausen and Nestmann (2000) use Boserup's demand-driven technological change in an extension of the growth model presented in Kremer (1993);and Lagerlöf (2002) includes a Boserupian feature in which agricultural productivity progresses as a result of population pressure. All of these papers, however, lack significant aspects of Boserup's theory concerning the labour costs associated with an increase in farmland productivity.…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

From domestic manufacture to Industrial Revolution: long-run growth and agricultural development

Weisdorf

2006

Oxford Economic Papers

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This paper investigates the historical process of industrialisation. The allocation of labour between food and non-food activities and the pattern of consumption of domestic versus industrial manufacture are determined endogenously, depending on terms of trade between agricultural and industrial goods. It is demonstrated that growth in the industrial sector's productivity is crucial to the expansion and development of the agricultural sector and thus to the transfer of labour from agriculture to industry and to economic growth. This view contrasts with the traditional perception according to which the agricultural sector leads in the process of industrialisation.

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Population, population density and technological change

Cited by 75 publications

References 19 publications

Population-Area Relationship for Medieval European Cities

Population-Area Relationship for Medieval European Cities

From families to formal contracts: An approach to development

From domestic manufacture to Industrial Revolution: long-run growth and agricultural development

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