The complex effects of demographic heterogeneity on the interaction between the economy and population

This paper combines population dynamics and macroeconomics in a world with structural unemployment. A general demo-economic framework, including age structure, is used to investigate the dynamical role played by fertility heterogeneity between employed and unemployed individuals. Several noteworthy dynamic features arise. First, under Malthusian conditions, i.e., when the fertility of unemployed individuals always lies below that of wage earners, the interaction between heterogeneous fertility and age structure may lead to sustained oscillations depending on the age patterns of entry in the labour market. This is an example of stable Malthusian cycle. Second, under post-Malthusian conditions, both transient and robust chaotic phenomena may appear.