Capital accumulation, aspiration adjustment, and population growth: Limit cycles in an Easterlin‐type model

One of the recent interesting hypotheses of population growth is due to Easterlin who suggests the possibility of self‐generating fluctuations in birth numbers. The present paper tries to answer the question whether feedback mechanisms produce persistent oscillations in population growth. A system of two nonlinear differential equations for the per capita capital stock and the aspiration level is studied by a phase portrait analysis. Using the Poincaré‐Bendixson theorem we derive sufficient conditions for the existence of a stable limit cycle.

Key words:

• capital
• population growth
• limit cycles
• Easterlin model