Demography 2400-FIM1DEM
The aim of the course is pursued with the use of various teaching techniques that comprise of lectures, discussions, and workshops in computer labs. Lectures are an important element of the course, since they create basis for subsequent discussions. Active participation from the students in classes consists of individual work, work in pairs or in groups on analytical tasks. During the semester, students work individually on their papers, first by choosing the topic and the aim of the paper, next by preparing and presenting in classes a detailed summary, and finally by editing a paper (up to 3000 words), which will be reviewed and graded by the lecturers. Perceiving phenomena and population processes as problems in the economic and social context, as well as the ability to illustrate these phenomena with the use of basic methods and techniques of demographic analysis, prepares students for subsequent studying. Furthermore, it develops in students the ability to seek solutions to problems on their own, both in formal and informal education, as well as in professional and social life.
Classes on the rules of preparing an academic paper:
1. How to write an academic paper? Formal rules.
2. How to plan well the work on an academic paper? What are the function and rules of preparing a summary of the paper?
3. How to form research goals, hypothesis, and question?
Classes on the population problems:
1. Demographic processes from a historical perspective. Have people always lived as long and had as few children as currently in Poland (and, if not, why)? World’s population since the Neolithic revolution
2. A theory of marriage. Who marries whom and why? Optimal sorting. Stable marriage problem. Assortative mating. Why, on average, women marry older men?
3. An economic analysis of marital instability. The role of uncertainty in optimal sorting. Which demographic, sociological, and economic characteristics of partners increase the likelihood of a divorce?
4. The demand for children. Why higher-income countries are characterized with lower fertility than lower-income countries? The quality-quantity model. Life-cycle models of fertility.
5. Mortality. Mortality indicators. Global trends towards lower infant and child mortality. Cause-specific mortality indicators. Historical trends in violent death ratios. Historical trends in HIV deaths. Medical innovation and survival rates: cancer survival rates across the world. Differentials in mortality.
6. Ageing. Measures of population ageing. Causes of ageing. Global trends towards rising life expectancy. Social and economic consequences of ageing. The impact of ageing on innovation and technological progress.
7. Family policies. Natalism (pronatalism) vs. antinatalism. Pronatalist vs antinatalist policies. The consequences of coercive antinatalist policies. One-child and two-child policies in China. Fertility policies across the world. Fertility policies and economies of scale.
8. Migration. The complexity of migration. Attitudes towards immigrants in host countries. Immigration policy in the US and in Europe now and in the past.
9. Demographic transition. Five stages of demographic transition. Differences in the speed of demographic transition. Economic development and demographic transition. The role of cultural factors and social norms in the demographic transition. The fifth stage of demographic transition: possible scenarios.
10. Main population doctrines. Premodern population doctrines. Mercantilist populationism. Malthusianism. Boserupian Theory. The impact of population size on innovation and technological progress (Michael Kremer, Julian Simon, Paul Romer, Simon Kuznets, etc.).
11. Urbanization. Measuring urbanization. Urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas. The role of urbanization in economic development. Urban economies of scale. Network effects (demand-side economies of scale). Urbanization and innovation. The impacts of urban zoning laws and building codes. NIMBY vs YIMBY. Charter cities.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
KW03, KW01, KW02, KU01, KK01, KK02, KK03
1. Student gets familiarized with basic demographic structures (among others, with respect of age and sex in various populations and various moments in history), processes (marriage, fertility, mortality, migrations, ageing), relations between them, and also with values of their measures from historical perspective. He knows their economic, social, and cultural consequences
2. Student knows fundamental theoretical approaches in demography. He has a deepen knowledge of the paradigm of the contemporary demography, i.e. the demographic transition theory (S1A_W09).
3. Student knows the assumptions, claims, consequences, interpretations and critique of selected demographic theories and concepts (population theories in particular), and the assumptions, goals, and instruments of population policy (S1A_W07, S1A_W09).
4. Student gets familiarized with stages of a research study, concepts of conceptualization and operationalization, differences between research question and research hypothesis, and with rules of preparing an academic paper and oral presentation (S1A_W01, S1A_W10).
5. Student knows demographic databases (GUS and Eurostat in particular), construction of measures of demographic processes and life tables, and graphical presentation of demographic phenomena (Lexis diagram) (S1A_W06).
6. In the process of editing the research paper, student obtains extended knowledge of a specific area of study related to the chosen research topic (S1A_W03, S1A_W08).
Capabilities
S1A_U01, S1A_U02, S1A_U03, S1A_U05, S1A_U07, S1A_U08, S1A_U09, S1A_U10
1. During his work in the classes, student develops the ability to form a research problem, its conceptualization, and operationalization, to present the goal of the research, research question and research hypothesis. Student can construct bibliography, and employ proper references, prepare data to be presented in a table and in a figure, make tables and figures along with their proper description, and above all he organizes his work along the stages of the research study and he plans, evaluates, and corrects the structure of the academic paper (S1A_U05, S1A_U09).
2. Student can write an academic paper that outlines research problem, its analysis and solution (S1A_U03, S1A_U07, S1A_U08, S1A_U09).
3. Student can participate in a debate, form oral statements, and present results of a study in a synthetic form (S1A_U09, S1A_U10).
4. Student can search and evaluate the usefulness of the literature and data sources, which he uses to calculate measures of demographic processes (indexes of births, deaths in cross-sectional, longitudinal, and cross-section-longitudinal approach, natural and real population growth, probability of death, life expectancy) (S1A_U02, S1A_U09).
5. Student interprets the above measures and values from life tables, checks whether they were computed correctly, and he interprets data illustrating demographic phenomena presented in the form of various tables and figures (S1A_U01, S1A_U08).
6. Student can analyze the text, he identifies its most important elements and he evaluates them critically. A student synthesizes the analyzed texts and information presented in the data sources and formulates conclusions from the research (S1A_U09, S1A_U07, S1A_U08).
Social competences
S1A_K01, S1A_K02, S1A_K03, S1A_K06
1. A student appreciates the value of solid and systematic work (S1A_K03).
2. A student develops the approach to problematize social reality and the need to selfeducation (S1A_K01, S1A_K06).
3. A student develops the culture of oral and written statements (S1A_K02).
4. A student values private and social returns to teamwork (S1A_K02).
Assessment criteria
To pass the course in the winter semester, a student must
pass the final exam in January (which requires obtaining at least 50% of the maximum number of points for the exam). To pass the course in the spring semester, a student must obtain at least 50% of the maximum number of points that can be obtained for various tasks related to writing an academic paper, and at least 50% of the maximum number of points that can be obtained for the final version of the paper alone.
Bibliography
Obligatory:
Becker, G.S. (1976) The Economic Approach to Human Behavior, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Part 6. Marriage, Fertility, and the Family)
Becker, G.S., Landes, E.M., and Michael, R.T. (1977) “An Economic Analysis of Marital Instability,” Journal of Political Economy 85(6): 1141-1187.
Bodvarsson, Ö., Van den Berg, H. (2009) The Economics of Immigration. Theory and Policy. New York: Springer-Verlag. (Chapter 1. Introduction to Immigration Economics)
Facultative:
Gale D., Shapley L. (1962) “College Admissions and the Stability of Marriage,” American Mathematical Monthly 69: 9-14.
Bergstrom T., Bagnoli M. (1993) “Courtship as a waiting game,” Journal of Political Economy, 101(1): 185-202.
Bodvarsson, Ö., Van den Berg, H. (2009) The Economics of Immigration. Theory and Policy. New York: Springer-Verlag. (Chapter 14. Immigration Policy in the USA; Chapter 16. Immigration Policy in Europe)
Kremer, M. (1993) “Population growth and technological change one million B.C. to 1990”, Quarterly Journal of Economics 108: 681-716.
Kuznets, S. (1960) "Population Change and Aggregate Output," in Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Simon, J. (1977) The Economics of Population Growth. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press.
Simon, J. (1981) The Ultimate Resource. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Bertaud, A. (2018) Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Clemens, M. 2011. Economics and Emigration: Trillion-Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk? [Online] CGD Working Paper 264. Washington, D.C.: Center for Global Development. Available at: http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1425376
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: