Seminars

David Weil 교수님의 세미나가 있을 예정입니다. 

* 주관: 서울대학교 경제학부, 경제연구소 한국경제혁신센터, SSK, BK21

* 본 세미나는 졸업요건(2022-2학기) 및 BK21+(2022-2학기) 세미나 참석으로 인정됩니다.

- 세미나 참석인정을 원하는 학생은 세미나 종료 후 참석자 명단을 작성해주시기 바랍니다.

Abstract: We develop a new measure of land quality by estimating weights in a Poisson regression of grid-cell population on geographic characteristics and country fixed effects. Aggregating to countries, we construct average land quality (ALQ) and quality-adjusted population density (QAP D). We show: First, current income per capita is positively correlated with ALQ. Second, while income today is unrelated to conventional population density, it is strongly negatively related to QAP D. Third, this negative relationship was not present in 1820 and emerged because today’s lower income countries have experienced faster subsequent population growth. Fourth, countries with higher average land quality began sustained modern economic growth earlier, and this earlier takeoff largely explains the modern income-ALQ relationship. We posit a framework in which land quality induced denser populations in Malthusian equilibrium and, via agglomeration, earlier takeoffs. Less dense countries experienced larger population multipliers during their later demographic transitions due to imported health technologies.