| Summary: | Growing population, greenhouse gas emissions, and the pressure to improve economic growth are conflicting and controversial issues at the core of political economy. In this paper, using a theoretical model, we show that by shifting relative costs of child-rearing and costs for education, we can achieve a slowdown in population growth and greenhouse emissions, and an enhancement of economic growth. These goals are based on two fundamental considerations—the quantity−quality tradeoff with respect to the choice of the number, and the educational level of children. An analysis is presented using a standard overlapping generation (OLG) framework that is extended with human capital, endogenous fertility, and changing life expectancy. The environmental impact of economic activities is modeled using a modified IPAT framework. Our results show that it is possible to reduce the level of carbon emissions of the whole economy and to generate a Pareto improvement. Subsequently, an economic strategy is presented that is costless, has various advantages, and particularly useful for countries experiencing high fertility rate that are not sustainable.
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