The Reluctant Economist

Richard A. Easterlin is University Professor and Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, University of Southern California. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, past president of the Population Association, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a former Guggenheim Fellow. He is editor of Happiness in Economics (2002) and author or co-author of Growth Triumphant: The 21st Century in Historical Perspective (1996), The Fertility Revolution (1985), Birth and Fortune: The Impact of Numbers on Personal Welfare (1980; 2nd edition 1987), and Population, Labor Force, and Long Swings in Economic Growth: The American Experience (1968).

These essays explore the nature of worldwide economic growth, population, and fertility changes.

List of tables and figures; Preface; Acknowledgements; Part I. Economics: 1. The reluctant economist; 2. Economics and the use of subjective testimony; 3. Is economic growth creating a new postmaterialistic society?; Part II. Economic History: 4. Why isn't the whole world developed?; 5. Kuznets cycles and modern economic growth; 6. Industrial revolution and mortality revolution: two of a kind?; 7. How beneficent is the market? A look at the modern history of mortality; Part III. Demography: 8. An economic framework for fertility analysis; 9. New perspectives on the demographic transition; 10. Does human fertility adjust to the environment? Population change and farm settlement in the northern United States; 11. America's baby boom and bust, 1940-80: causes and consequences; 12. Preferences and prices in choice of career: the switch to business; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.