Death rates, age distribution and average income in stationary populations

This paper investigates the influences of death rates on average income in stationary populations, through changes in the age distribution and changes in the upper age limit of the population taking part in production. It is assumed that decreases in death rates are followed by a decrease in the number of births to make the total population remain constant. This may reduce the loss in labour input due to the births. The formal analysis introduces a productive ages a function of expectation of life at birth. We further introduce a consumption unit scale to be used in defining average income. The formulæ derived are in principle applicable to any given pattern of change in death rates. The method is illustrated numerically on the basis of changes in Norwegian death rates between 1901–11 and 1921–31. Some tentative consclusions are drawn. The main result seems to be that it is a necessary condition for achieving any appreciable increase in average income through a decline in death rates, that the upper limit of working life should increase with expectation of life

Birth rate · Consumption (sociology) · Demographic economics · Distribution (mathematics) · Econometrics · Economics · Fertility · Limit (mathematics) · Mathematical analysis · Mortality rate · Norwegian · Population · Sociology · Statistics · Demography · Global Health Care Issues · Health disparities and outcomes · Insurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk Management · Mathematics