Entrepreneurship, knowledge and employment

French Liberal School and the question of population at the beginning of the XXth century

De Paoli Joachim, Université Lyon 2 Laboratoire Triangle

The theme of population is a recurrent problem in economy. Literature in history of economic thought about this problem is important, particularly for the period from the developments of Malthus to the middle of the XIXth century. However, the position of the economists writing from the end of the XIXth century is less studied. It is however a theme regularly treated in the debates between economists, especially in France. The aim of this communication is to fill the void in the literature by reporting the debates among French Liberal economists of the beginning of the XXth century. The analysis will allow us to highlight several points. On the first hand, we will demonstrate that French liberal economists agree on several points: there is a slowdown of the increase of French population because of a decrease in birth rate and Malthus was wrong on his predictions. Then, we will highlight the opposition between French liberals about the causes of this slowdown. For some authors, it is due to a change in lifestyle, especially with an increase of egoism, the desire to have children with a higher standard of living and a decrease in the families’ stability. For others, on the contrary, this is due to the more and more important State intervention, with the development of social laws and the obligation to leave an equal share of inheritance to all his children. Finally, we will highlight the opposition between liberal economists about the solutions to implement in order to allow the birth rate to start to rise again. Three types of solutions are proposed. For some authors, the solution is moral, we must change the state of mind of men. For others on the contrary, the solution is economic, we have to improve the economic conditions of men thanks to free trade, the increase in exports allowing the development of wealth. For others finally, the solution is legislative, the State must encourage individuals to have more children.

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Keywords: population, French Liberal School, Social issues, Malthus, Passy, Neymarck, Leroy-Beaulieu, Levasseur, Colson

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