This book studies the consequences of demographic change for optimal economic growth in a closed economy. It connects the analytical tools of traditional growth theory with the actual demographic experience of most industrialized countries. A natural way of incorporating the demographic structure into growth models is by making the model one of overlapping generations, thus allowing for explicit analysis of demographic forces as potential sources of non-stationarities in economic development. The book offers a number of economic growth models with which the effects on social welfare of demography, investment in physical and human capital, and technical progress can be analyzed. Using these models, rules for optimal economic policy can be derived. The study formulates general guidelines for long-run economic and educational policy, given the available demographic projections. Two main conclusions are reached. First, a fall in fertility has a beneficial effect on consumption per capita, provided that the population growth rate does not pass below a certain (probably negative) critical level. Second, investment in education is a good substitute for population growth: when the population growth rate falls, investment in education becomes more attractive. | Optimal Economic Growth and Non-Stable Population by Evert van Imhoff, Paperback | Indigo Chapters