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Journal of Political Economy Vol. 92 No. 3 1984

Bequests and the Size of Population When Population is Endogenous

Marc Nerlove; Assaf Razin; Efraim Sadka

Abstract

The consequences of interfamily bequests and endogenous population size for optimal and competitive population sizes and bequests are explored when individuals' utility is a function of own consumption, the number of children, and the welfare of their children. When a bequest benefits each member of a second-generation family, we show that competition leads to underprovision for future generations. Under a separability assumption, the number of children is also shown to be too large.

DOI
10.1086/261240
Volume
92
Issue
3
Pages
527-531
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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