{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-post-query-tsx","path":"/research/optimal-population-and-exhaustible-resource-constraints/","result":{"pageContext":{"post":{"slug":"/research/optimal-population-and-exhaustible-resource-constraints/","title":"Optimal Population and Exhaustible Resource Constraints","date":"Aug 23, 2016","timeToRead":1,"description":"A large literature considers the optimal size and growth rate of the human population, trading o the utility value of additional people with the costs of a larger population. In this literature, an important parameter is the social weight placed on population size; a standard result is that a planner with a larger weight on population chooses larger population levels and growth rates. ","body":"function _extends() { _extends = Object.assign || function (target) { for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) { var source = arguments[i]; for (var key in source) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(source, key)) { target[key] = source[key]; } } } return target; }; return _extends.apply(this, arguments); }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutProperties(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded); var key, i; if (Object.getOwnPropertySymbols) { var sourceSymbolKeys = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source); for (i = 0; i < sourceSymbolKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceSymbolKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; if (!Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable.call(source, key)) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } } return target; }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = {}; var sourceKeys = Object.keys(source); var key, i; for (i = 0; i < sourceKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } return target; }\n\n/* @jsxRuntime classic */\n\n/* @jsx mdx */\nvar _frontmatter = {\n  \"title\": \"Optimal Population and Exhaustible Resource Constraints\",\n  \"date\": \"2016-08-23\",\n  \"template\": \"post\",\n  \"slug\": \"optimal-population-and-exhaustible-resource-constraints\",\n  \"postedLink\": \"https://riceinstitute.org/research/optimal-population-and-exhaustible-resource-constraints/\",\n  \"description\": \"A large literature considers the optimal size and growth rate of the human population, trading o the utility value of additional people with the costs of a larger population. In this literature, an important parameter is the social weight placed on population size; a standard result is that a planner with a larger weight on population chooses larger population levels and growth rates. \",\n  \"tags\": \"Research, Environment\",\n  \"banner\": \"\"\n};\nvar layoutProps = {\n  _frontmatter: _frontmatter\n};\nvar MDXLayout = \"wrapper\";\nreturn function MDXContent(_ref) {\n  var components = _ref.components,\n      props = _objectWithoutProperties(_ref, [\"components\"]);\n\n  return mdx(MDXLayout, _extends({}, layoutProps, props, {\n    components: components,\n    mdxType: \"MDXLayout\"\n  }), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Authors: Nicholas Lawson, Dean Spears\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Published in: \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"Journal of population economics\")), mdx(\"p\", null, mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://github.com/riceinstitute/content/blob/release/research/lawson-et-al-2016-optimal-population-and-exhaustible-resource-constraints.pdf\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"Download Paper\")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Abstract:\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"A large literature considers the optimal size and growth rate of the human population, trading o the utility value of additional people with the costs of a larger population. In this literature, an important parameter is the social weight placed on population size; a standard result is that a planner with a larger weight on population chooses larger population levels and growth rates. \"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"We demonstrate that this result is conditionally overturned when an exhaustible resource constraint is introduced: if the discount rate is small enough, the optimal population today decreases with the welfare weight on population size. That is, a more total-utilitarian social planner could prefer a smaller population today than a more average-utilitarian social planner. We also present a numerical illustration applied to the case of climate change, where we show that under plausible real-world parameter values, our result matters for the direction and magnitude of optimal population policy.\"));\n}\n;\nMDXContent.isMDXComponent = true;","tags":[{"name":"Research","slug":"research"},{"name":" Environment","slug":"environment"}],"banner":null}}},"staticQueryHashes":["318001574","3787687951","3787687951"]}