First published in 1979, European Demography and Economic Growth presents a collection of essays on the demographic development of individual European economies like Austria, Hungary, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal etc. It provides a comparative analysis to clarify many crucial issues connected with the growth in European population from mid-eighteenth century. It looks at the suitable criteria for assessing the applicability of general theory to the experience of individual nations. It showcases the over-riding contrast between substantial economic variations on a national and regional level and the existence of common underlying demographic trends. This book will be useful for scholars and researchers of economic history, political economy, European history, population geography and economics in general.
By most accounts, Europe has been mired in a “demographic crisis” since about 1970. By a demographic crisis is meant that Europe’s dependency ratio is increasing, and the net result has been declining populations and fewer workers to sustain society. However, there are certain issues that need attention. Two topics seem to capture some of these issues: The implications of the possible crisis, and the crisis’ assessment. The present volume is organized around both topics (implications and assessment). There are at least three contributions being made by the proposed volume. To begin with, while there are other issues related to the demographic crisis in Europe the present volume should motivate additional research. Secondly, the research in the proposed volume does not necessarily assume that there is a demographic crisis in Europe nor that it is consistent across national lines. Thus, each chapter, in essence, examines a different issue associated with the proposal that there is a crisis. Finally, the present volume makes several methodological contributions. For example, the chapter by David Swanson uses non-Bayesian modeling in studying infant mortality. Richard Verdugo examines the dependency ratio and selected factors on economic growth in selected European nations, Kposowa and Ezzat conduct an assessment, Martins examines variation in the path toward a crisis, Johnson examines humanitarian migration and the crisis, Edmonston examines the association between geopolitics and the crisis.
Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population has for the past two centuries been a constant source of inspiration and debate for scholars working on relationships between population and economy in historical perspective. This book of collected essays–an outcome of an A-session held at the 12th International Congress of Economic History in Madrid, 1998–sets a new standard in this active and influential field of research. The contributors go beyond the conventional European and North American geographical boundaries, bringing out new empirical findings and developing new arguments. The volume is divided into three parts. The first section takes up classical issues, the 'positive' and the 'preventive' checks and their determinants, raised by Malthus himself, and examines the issues against fresh evidence from Europe, America, and Asia. These issues are also themes of the second part, devoted to short-term fluctuations in mortality and fertility in relation to prices, wages, and other economic indicators. The final set of chapters is a coherent collection of technically sophisticated articles from an on-going international joint project concerned with how households respond to economic stress in different economic, social and cultural settings, in traditional China, Japan, Sweden, Belgium and Italy. With a brief but well organized introduction, this collection of scholarly essays offers both demographers and economic historians a wealth of exciting findings and stimulating insights.
On the threshold of a new century the organisers of the European Population Conference 1999 (EPC99) in The Hague decided not only to highlight the population trends that Europe is facing today but also the changes in the 21 st century that are set to shape the future of Europe. They decided to focus on comparative issues, both in time and in space. In order to trace the degree of homogeneity and heterogeneity of European populations over time, converging and diverging population trends that are specific to contemporary and future Europe need to be explored. This is reflected in EPC99's motto: 'European Populations on the threshold of the new millennium; unity in diversity. ' Future demographic developments will be caused by specific economic, social and cultural conditions in Europe, and will, in turn, have a major influence on future economic and social conditions. To the extent that demographic trends differ across countries, separate countries may face different social and economic problems. As demographic trends tend to have long-lasting effects, it is important to assess the possible consequences of future demographic developments at an early stage. On the occasion of EPC99 , two of the organisers, Statistics Netherlands (SN) and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI), decided to produce a set of two population scenarios, showing the possible impact of converging and diverging population trends in the next century.
Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Economics - Macro-economics, general, grade: 1,0, Berlin School of Economics, course: Arbeitsmärkte und Sozialstaat in Europa, language: English, abstract: Though EU commissar Špidla speaks, in 2006, about a “demographic time bomb” which needs to be disarmed1, a study suggests that back in 2003 52 percent of the German population has not even heard about the term “demographic change.” Even if these figures are a bit outdated they show that discussion concerning this topic continues between experts and politicians and has been a long-time taking to reach the broader populace. Nowadays, word has spread. The topic has become more pressing on political agendas, national and international summits. In the 2007 Adecco Fitness Survey, European companies invision the demographic change as the second biggest business challenge, following Globalization. The UN has been pressing the issue of ageing populations since the 1940s and forecasts that the number of people over 60 years old will have tripled by 2050. For the first time in history, this figure will exceed that of the number of children (0 – 14 years). However, these aggregated figures do not show that these developments have taken place differently across the globe. Europe is experiencing the most rapid ageing, and the number of old people is already higher than the number of young people. This may explain why demographic change now has such a high priority in EU policies. Nico van Nimwegen, deputy director of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute notes that the ageing problem is the dominant challenge the EU is facing. He sees the implications of this trend and the need for action and policy change in various areas. Employment has been recognized as one of these target areas. The ageing of the population has important repercussions on the available labor force and thus impacts economic prospects as a whole. This paper will analyze demographic changes and their impacts on the labor markets. It will begin with an overview of Europe’s demographic development and its driving forces. The subsequent impacts on the labor force will then be discussed followed by an overview of different proposed policy options and how they could help circumvent the consequences of demographic change. Here the goal shall not be to detail single policy measures, but to unveil areas in which policy action needs to be considered. Particular policies have to be chosen carefully by each country in accordance to its individual situation and institutional framework. Finally, the findings of this paper will be reviewed and a final conclusion will be given.
The 1970s was a decade of significant population change in Western Europe. Originally published in 1986, this book reviews the major trends: fertility decline, counter-urbanisation and the cessation of international labour migration from outside the former EEC. It was the first volume to compare the results of the 1980-82 European census round, and emphasizes the spatial dimension of recent population trends. For countries such as the former West Germany where no census was taken, the difficulties of using registration data are examined. One of the major strengths of the volume is the set of standardised topics which are reviewed by the authors in each country allowing international comparisons to be made from the country case studies. The book concludes with an overview of future trends in European population towards the year 2000.
Over the past decades Europe has witnessed fundamental changes of its population dynamics and population structure. Fertility has fallen below replacement level in almost all European countries, while childbearing behavior and family formation have become more diverse. Life expectancy has increased in Western Europe for both females and males, but has been declining for men in some Eastern European countries. Immigration from non-European countries has increased substantially, as has mobility within Europe. These changes pose major challenges to population studies, as conventional theoretical assumptions regarding demographic behavior and demographic development seem unfit to provide convincing explanations of the recent demographic changes. This book, derived from the symposium on “The Demography of Europe” held at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany in November 2007 in honor of Professor Jan M. Hoem, brings together leading population researchers in the area of fertility, family, migration, life-expectancy, and mortality. The contributions present key issues of the new demography of Europe and discuss key research advances to understand the continent’s demographic development at the turn of the 21st century.
There is long-standing debate on how population growth affects national economies. A new report from Population Matters examines the history of this debate and synthesizes current research on the topic. The authors, led by Harvard economist David Bloom, conclude that population age structure, more than size or growth per se, affects economic development, and that reducing high fertility can create opportunities for economic growth if the right kinds of educational, health, and labor-market policies are in place. The report also examines specific regions of the world and how their differing policy environments have affected the relationship between population change and economic development.
Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Economics - Macro-economics, general, grade: 1,0, Berlin School of Economics, course: Arbeitsmärkte und Sozialstaat in Europa, language: English, abstract: Though EU commissar Spidla speaks, in 2006, about a "demographic time bomb" which needs to be disarmed1, a study suggests that back in 2003 52 percent of the German population has not even heard about the term "demographic change." Even if these figures are a bit outdated they show that discussion concerning this topic continues between experts and politicians and has been a long-time taking to reach the broader populace. Nowadays, word has spread. The topic has become more pressing on political agendas, national and international summits. In the 2007 Adecco Fitness Survey, European companies invision the demographic change as the second biggest business challenge, following Globalization. The UN has been pressing the issue of ageing populations since the 1940s and forecasts that the number of people over 60 years old will have tripled by 2050. For the first time in history, this figure will exceed that of the number of children (0 - 14 years). However, these aggregated figures do not show that these developments have taken place differently across the globe. Europe is experiencing the most rapid ageing, and the number of old people is already higher than the number of young people. This may explain why demographic change now has such a high priority in EU policies. Nico van Nimwegen, deputy director of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute notes that the ageing problem is the dominant challenge the EU is facing. He sees the implications of this trend and the need for action and policy change in various areas. Employment has been recognized as one of these target areas. The ageing of the population has important repercussions on the available labor force and thus impacts economic prospects as a whole. This paper will analyze demographic changes and
Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne, language: English, abstract: Demographic change, the "war for talent", global competition - key words that companies should seriously deal with. Whether in trade magazines, regional newspapers, Internet articles and television news - in all media the issues of demographic change and shortage of skilled labor are omnipresent. The population in Europe is growing older due to the high living standards, while the birth rate is alarming low1. The population of working age will be strongly influenced by the older workers and decline in the longterm period from 2015 on2. Due to quantitative and qualitative imbalances in the labor market in many industries qualified young professionals are missing, while the in-house workforce is getting older continuously. Demographic change and the resulting consequences for companies are often underestimated or ignored. Companies should have taken precautions much earlier. Strong action is required now. But how can companies overcome the "demographic gap"? The aim of this paper is to analyze demographic changes and their impacts on the labor markets. The paper will begin with brief r e view of Europe’s demographic development and its driving forces followed by an overview of different proposed countermeasures to prevent the consequences of demographic change. [...] 1 Euröpäisches Statistikamt (eurostat) online: Fewer, older and multicultural? Projections of the EU populations by foreign/national background (2012), P. 5 2 eurostat online: National reports on the demographic developments in 2010 (2012 edition)0
