University of HelsinkiThis paper considers the effects the landowning and land reforms on economic and demographic growth by a family-optimization model with endogenous fertility and status-seeking. A land reform provides the peasants with strong incentives to limit their family size and to improve the productivity of land. Even though the income effect due to the land reform tends to rise fertility, a strong enough status-effect outweighs it, thus generating a decrease in population growth. The European demographic history provides supporting anecdotal evidence for this theoretical result.
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