Analysis of demographic catastrophes shows that, with the exception of perhaps only two critical events, they were too weak to influence the growth of human population. These results reinforce the conclusion that the concept of the Epoch of Malthusian Stagnation, the alleged first stage of growth claimed by the Demographic Transition Theory, is not supported by empirical evidence. They show tha...

The paper analyzes an economy with an agrarian and an industrial sector. Demand is determined by Engel's Law. Population growth follows a non{linear income dependent path according to the theory of demographic transition. In case of decreasing returns to scale in the agrarian sector the existence of a stable low{income equilibrium with high population growth can be shown. If this equilibrium is...