Journal Article The Use of Adaptive Expectations in Stability Analysis: Reply Get access Marc Nerlove Marc Nerlove Stanford University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 75, Issue 2, May 1961, Pages 335–338, https://doi.org/10.2307/1884209 Published: 01 May 1961

I. Introduction, 227. — II. Akerman's argument, 229. — III. Reformulation in terms of adaptive expectations, 230. — IV. An alternative but equivalent formulation, 233. — V. Some empirical results, 236. — VI. More complicated models, 238. — VII. Conclusions, 240.

Optimal population size when fertility is endogenous is considered in relation to two social welfare criteria, a Benthamite and a Millian, and in relation to purely individualistic maximization of utility in the current generation. We show that a tax-subsidy scheme involving child allowances and subsidies to future generation consumption can be found to support a social optimum through individual choice. A general proof that the optimal population size according to the Benthamite criterion is always larger than that given by the Millian criterion is presented, but we show that no general conclusions about the size of the population under laissez-faire are possible.