Demographic Changes and Social Dynamics (20.237)
2015
Pau Baizán Office number: 20.125 E-mail address: [email protected]
Language of instruction: English Number of ECTS credits: 5 ECTS Quarter: 1st
1. Overview The course introduces the key topics on demographic change and social dynamics, both from a macro-level and from a micro-level perspective. A particular emphasis is put on the issues of changing life courses. The students will acquire the capacity to understand the scope and patterns of recent fertility and nuptiality changes in developed countries and the main theoretical contributions made by demographers, sociologists and economists to explain demographic changes. A special attention will be devoted to introducing the tools that are used to study demographic behaviour in the current scientific literature. Contemporary research papers are used to enlighten each of the topics of the course.
2. Prerrequisites Students are assumed to have the basic competences in applied statistics. The course also assumes command of English since readings, class discussions, and final paper must be done in English.
3. Competencies General competences
- Familiarity with the basic instruments and measures of demography - Ability to analyze and synthesize different approaches to the study of demographic behaviour, and to have access to contemporary research in social demography
- Ability to write an essay in English on a subject related to social demography.
Specific competences
- Knowledge of key contemporary demographic issues in the demography of postindustrial societies. -Understanding and application of the life table method.
4. Contents
Session 1. (3 hours lecture)
Outline of the course. Basic concepts of (macro-) demography. Demographic change in a long-run perspective. The notion of demographic transition.
Compulsory reading
JA Mc Falls Jr., 2003, Population: A Lively Introduction , 4th Edition, Population Reference Bureau. Downloadable at: http://www.prb.org/Source/58.4PopulationLivelyIntro.pdf
Additional reading
Lee, R. D. (2003).The demographic transition: three centuries of fundamental change. J. Econ. Perspect. 17, 167–190
Lutz, W., Sanderson, W. & Scherbov, S. The end of world population growth. Nature 412, 543–545 (2001).
Weeks, John R. (2007): Population. An Introduction to Concepts and Issues. Tenth edition. Belmont, USA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Chapter 6 ‘The Fertility Transition’.
Leslie Roberts (2011) “9 Billion?” Science (July 29). 333:6042, pp.540-543. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6042/540.full
Session 2. (1 ½ hours lecture, 1 ½ hours seminar)
Ageing and the economy. Intergenerational transfers. The demographic dividend.
Compulsory reading Bloom, David E. David Canning, Jaypee Sevilla. The demographic dividend : a new perspective on the economic consequences of population change / RAND: Santa Monica, CA. Chapters 1-3 (pp.1-43). Downloadable at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1274/
Additional reading
Lutz, Wolfgang and Samir KC. 2011. “Global human capital: Integrating education and population,” Science 333, 587–592.
W. Lutz, J. C. Cuaresma, W. Sanderson, The Demography of Educational Attainment and Economic Growth, Science 319,1047 (2008).
Ronald Lee and Andrew Mason. Fertility, Human Capital, and Economic Growth over the Demographic Transition, Eur J Population (2010) 26:159–182.
Ronald Lee and Andrew Mason (2011) “Generational Economics in a Changing World” in Ronald Lee and David Reher (eds), The Long Term Consequences of the Demographic Transition, Special Supplement to Population and Development Review.
Myles, J. 2002, A new social contract for the elderly?, in G. Esping-Andersen with D. Gallie, A. Hemerijck and J. Myles, Why we need a new welfare state . Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Session 3. (1 ½ hours lecture, ½ hours seminar)
The emergence of lowest low fertility and the postponement of fertility. The reversal of cross-country relationships and fertility-related behaviours. Towards a new demographic equilibrium?
Compulsory reading
Kohler, H.-P., Billari, F. C. & Ortega, J. A. The emergence of lowest-low fertility in Europe during the 1990s. Popul. Dev. Rev . 28, 641–681 (2002).
Additional reading
Mikko Myrskyla, Hans-Peter Kohler & Francesco C. Billari, Advances in development reverse fertility declines, Nature Vol 460|6 August 2009| doi:10.1038/ 08230
Session 4. (1 ½ hours lecture, ½ hours seminar). Institutions and fertility .
Compulsory reading
Ronald R. Rindfuss, Karen B. Guzzo, S. Philip Morgan (2003) The Changing Institutional Context of Low Fertility, Population Research and Policy Review , 22 (5-6), 411-438
Additional reading
Billingsley, S. and T. Ferrarini (2014). Family policy and fertility intentions in 21 European countries. Journal of Marriage and Family .
Harknett, K., Billari, F.C., Medalia (2014). Do family support environments influence fertility? Evidence from 20 European countries. European Journal of Population .
Rovny, A. (2011). Welfare state policy determinants of fertility level: A comparative analysis. Journal of European Social Policy
Kravdal, O. and R.R.Rindfuss 2008, Changing relationships between education and fertility: A study of women and men born 1940 to 1964, American Sociological Review 73: 854.
Session 5. (1 ½ hours lecture, 1 ½ hours computer session). The life table method.
Compulsory reading Weeks, John R., 2012 , An introduction to population , Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Chapter 5 “The health and mortality transition”, section “Measuring mortality”: Pages 176- 185. Note: equivalent descriptions of the life table method can be found in most introductory demography textbooks.
Additional reading
Bernardi, Fabrizio (2003). Introduction to Event History Analysis Using STATA . Lesson 3. Nonparametric Descriptive Methods, pp. 7-10, & 24-32. See Aula Global.
Blossfeld, H.-P. & Rohwer, G. (2001). Techniques of Event History Modeling. New Approaches to Causal Analysis. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (2nd Edition). Non parametric descriptive methods. (This chapter is reprinted in Blossfeld, H.-P., Golsh K. & Rohwer, G. (2007). Event history analysis with Stata . Psychology Press, pp 58-86).
Session 6. (1 ½ hours lecture, 1 ½ hours computer session). The transition to adulthood.
Compulsory reading Buchmann M. C. and Kriesi, I. (2011). Transition to Adulthood in Europe. Annual Review of Sociology , 37:481-503.
Additional reading
Aassve, A., Arpino, B. & Billari, F.C., (2013) Age norms on leaving home: multilevel evidence from the European Social Survey, Environment and Planning A , 45, 383–401. Breen, Richard and Marlis Buchmann (2002): "Institutional Variation and the Position of Young People: A Comparative Perspective." Pp. 288-305 In: Frank F. Furstenberg Jr. (ed.), Early Adulthood in Cross-National Perspective , (The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 580 (March 2002)). Thousand Oaks et al.: Sage. Baizán, P., Michielin, F. and Billari, F.C., (2002), “Political Economy and Life Course Patterns: The Heterogeneity of the Occupational, Family and Household Trajectories of Young Spaniards ”. Demographic Research , 6 (8): 191-240. [Available online www.demographic-research.org ].
Billari, F., & Liefbroer, A. (2010). “Towards a new pattern of transition to adulthood?” Advances in Life Course Research , 15(2-3), 59-75.
Aassve, A., Davia, M., Iacovou, M., & Mazzuco S. (2007). Does leaving home make you poor. Evidence from 13 European countries, European Journal of Population , 23 : 315-338.
Settersten, Richard A., Frank F. Furstenberg Jr.and Ruben G. Rumbaut (eds.) (2005): On the Frontier of Adulthood. Theory, Research, and Public Policy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Session 7. (1½ hours lecture, ½ hours seminar). Theories of fertility. Compulsory reading de Bruijn, B. (1999), Disciplinary perspectives on fertility behaviour (Chapter 3), Foundations of demographic theory , pp. 37-82.
Additional reading
Hotz et al. The economics of fertility in developed countries, Section 3: “Static models of fertility behaviour”, pp. 292-308. In Handbook of Population and Family Economics , vol. 1A. Eds. Rozenzweig M.R. and Stark O., Amsterdam: Elsevier. Becker, Gary S. (1991): “The demand for children”. In A Treatise on the Family (enlarged edition), Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: Harvard University Press.
Lesthaeghe, R. 1995. “The second demographic transition in Western countries: An interpretation.” In K. O. Mason and A. M. Jensen (eds.) Gender and Family Change in Industrialized Countries . Oxford, Clarendon, pp. 17-62.
Dalla Zuanna, G. 2001. “The banquet of Aeolus: A familistic interpretation of Italy’s lowest low fertility.” Demographic Research 4: 131-162.
Session 8 (1½ hours lecture, ½ hours seminar). Fertility postponement.
Compulsory reading
Francesco C. Billari, Aart C. Liefbroer, and Dimiter Philipov, 2006, The Postponement of Childbearing in Europe: Driving Forces and Implications, Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, pp. 1-17 Additional reading
Rindfuss R. and S.R. Brauner-Otto (2008). Institutions and the transition to adulthood: Implications for fertility tempo in lo-fertility settings, Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2008, pp. 57-87.
Wolfgang Lutz, Vegard Skirbekk, and Maria Rita Testa , 2006, The Low-Fertility Trap Hypothesis: Forces that May Lead to Further Postponement and Fewer Births in Europe, Vienna Yearbook of Population Research , pp. 167-192. Downloadable at: http://www.oeaw.ac.at/vid/publications/VYPR2006/VYPR2006.shtml
Liefbroer, A. C. 2005. “The impact of perceived costs and rewards of childbearing on entry into parenthood: Evidence from a panel study.” European Journal of Population 21: 367- 391.
Gustafsson, Siv (2001) Optimal age at motherhood. Theoretical and empirical considerations on postponement of maternity in Europe. Journal of Population Economics 14(2): 225-247.
Máire Ní Bhrolcháin & Éva Beaujouan (2012) Fertility postponement is largely due to rising educational enrolment, Population Studies: A Journal of Demography , 66:3, 311-327
Session 9. (1 ½ hours lecture, 1 ½ hours seminar)
The life course approach.
Compulsory reading
Mayer, Karl Ulrich (2001): "The paradox of global social change and national path dependencies: life course patterns in advanced societies." In: Alison E. Woodward and Martin Kohli (eds.), Inclusions and Exclusions in European Societies (pp. 89-110). London: Routledge. URL: http://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/dok/full/Mayer/theparad/index.htm
Additional reading
Karl Ulrich Mayer (2000) Promises Fulfilled? A Review of 20 Years of Life Course Research, Archives Européennes de Sociologie XLI, 2: 259-282. Preprint version downloadable from: http://www.mpibberlin.mpg.de/en/institut/dok/full/Mayer/promises/Promises_fulfilled _2000.pdf
Brückner, H. & Mayer, K.U. (2005). The de-standardization of the life course: What it might mean? And whether it means anything, whether it actually took place? Advances in Life Course Research , 9:27-54.)
Mayer, K. U. (2004). “Whose Lives? How History, Societies and Institutions Define and Shape Life Courses.” Research in Human Development 1 (3), 161-187. URL: http://www.mpibberlin.mpg.de/en/institut/dok/full/Mayer/whoselif/s15427617rhd010 3_3.pdf
Hedström Peter and Swedberg Richard, 1999. Social mechanisms. An analytical approach to social theory . Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 340 p.
Session 10.
Student’s presentations.
5. Teaching Methodology Lectures by the professor and seminar.
6. Assessment The final mark will depend on four components:
1) Active participation in class: 25%
2) Presentations by students: 25%
3) Final paper: 50%
Participation in class will be encouraged and highly valued. The quality of interventions will increase if the student covers not only the core reading but also the optional one.
7. General Bibliography Poston, Dudley L, Jr. And Bouvier, Leon F., 2010, Population and society. An introduction to demography , Cambridge University Press New York. Weeks, John R., 2012 , An introduction to population , Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Livi-Bacci, Massimo. 2007. A Concise History of World Population . Fourth edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publisher.