American Economic Journal:
Macroeconomics
ISSN 1945-7707 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7715 (Online)
Population and Welfare: Measuring Growth When Life Is Worth Living
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics
(pp. 356–89)
Abstract
Economic growth is typically measured in per capita terms. A long tradition in philosophy, however, suggests that social welfare may depend on the number of people as well. To illustrate how much this matters quantitatively, we decompose welfare growth—measured in consumption-equivalent (CE) units—into contributions from rising population and rising per capita consumption. Because of diminishing marginal utility from consumption, population growth is scaled up by a value-of-life factor that empirically averages nearly 3 across countries since 1960. Population increases are therefore a major contributor to growth if one takes a total utilitarian perspective.Citation
Adhami, Mohamad, Mark Bils, Charles I. Jones, and Peter J. Klenow. 2026. "Population and Welfare: Measuring Growth When Life Is Worth Living." American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 18 (4): 356–89. DOI: 10.1257/mac.20250382Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- E21 Macroeconomics: Consumption; Saving; Wealth
- E23 Macroeconomics: Production
- I30 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: General
- J11 Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
- O11 Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
- O47 Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence