Fertility choices depend not only on the surrounding culture but also on economic incentives, which have important consequences for inequality, education and sustainability. This book outlines parallels between demographic development and economic outcomes, explaining how fertility, growth and inequality are related. It provides a set of general equilibrium models where households choose their number of children, analysed in four domains. First, inequality is particularly damaging for growth as human capital is kept low by the mass of grown-up children stemming from poor families. Second, the cost of education can be an important determining factor on fertility. Third, fertility is sometimes viewed as a strategic variable in the power struggle between different cultural, ethnic and religious groups. Finally, fertility might be affected by policies targeted at other objectives. Incorporating new findings with the discussion of education policy and sustainability, this book is a significant addition to the literature on growth.

Economic growth is an issue of primary concern to policy makers in both developed and developing economies. As a consequence, growth theory has long occupied a central role in economics. In this book, renowned growth theorist Stephen J. Turnovsky investigates the process of economic growth in a small open economy, showing that it is sensitive to the productive structure of the economy. The book comprises three parts, beginning with models where the only intertemporally viable equilibrium is one in which the economy is always on its balanced growth path. Empirical evidence suggests relatively slow speeds of convergence so the second part of the book looks at several alternative ways in which transitional dynamics may be introduced. In the third and final part, the author applies the growth model to the issue of foreign aid, focusing specifically on whether aid should be untied or tied to the accumulation of public capital.