The notion of optimum population has attracted the attention of economists ever since economics was made a science. Roots can be traced back to ancient Greece. The topic has recently found rising interest among population economists and demographers. The economic concept of optimum population seeks to define the population size, which maximizes a welfare criterion of the society. The purpose of this book is to outline this concept from a micro and macro perspective and to link it with issues of technical progress, social security, limited resources and migration. It treats fertility endogenously and studies its welfare and policy implications. The emphasis is on a rigorous theoretical treatment of the subject using the modern growth and welfare theory as well as the new classical micro model of the family.

This book provides a comprehensive, modern, and self-contained account of the research in the growing area of family economics. It is intended for graduate students in economics and for researchers in other fields interested in the economic approach to the family.

This book brings together a collection of essays in honour of Peter Groenewegen, one of the most distinguished historians of economic thought. His work on a wide range of economic theorists approaches a level of near insuperability.

The bulk of contemporary economics assumes rather than explains differences between people or groups of people. Yet, many of these differences are produced by society or they imply differing opportunities and outcomes. This book argues that economists should concern themselves with the explanation of the social causes and effects of such differences. D’Ippoliti introduces the concept of diversity to summarise all differences that are of social origin and that a theory or model seeks to explain. This contrasts with the traditional concept of heterogeneity that instead refers to differences that are deemed to be exogenous of economic theory. In approaching this, the book ranges from the fields of methodology and history of economics to applied empirical work, as well as gender diversity which is considered in depth. The analysis of the thinking of two major economists of the past, John Stuart Mill and Gustav Schmoller, demonstrates how gender diversity exemplifies some of the fundamental issues in economics, such as the division of labour, society’s capacity to reproduce itself, and the role of social institutions and their impact on individual and collective behaviour. The book maintains that growth of GDP and of the services sector cannot be trusted to automatically bring about greater inclusion of women in the labour market. Active policy interventions are needed, spanning from the removal of discrimination to the provision of public services and the establishment of fair competition in the market, along with an improved division of social and political power between the sexes. This work will be of interest to researchers and students focusing on the history of economic thought, labour economics, social policy and gender studies.

This book focuses on the relationship between the process of producing commodities and the process of social reproduction of the labouring population, and seeks to restore that problematic relationship to the central place it had in the analysis of Smith, Ricardo, and Marx.

This book aims to analyze Lesotho's prospects for economic advancement, and examines the influence of the policies and economic development of South Africa on Lesotho's own potential for development.