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Stopping, Starting and Spacing: the Regulation of Fertility in Historical Populations

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Human Reproductive Decisions

Part of the book series: Studies in Biology, Economy and Society ((SBES))

Abstract

Fertility variations and their causes are of central importance to the comparative demography of historical populations since it appears, both empirically and theoretically, that mortality and fertility levels co-varied, and that much mortality variation can be understood in terms of fertility. Empirically, population growth rates seem to have varied much less than those of fertility (Wrigley, 1987), whilst theoretically it is generally assumed that population growth, as Malthus famously argued, was strongly constrained by the biological and physical environment. Proximate mechanisms vary — in hunter-gatherer societies the concept of ecological ‘carrying capacity’ may be relevant, whereas in early-modern Europe we are more concerned with supply inelasticities in agriculture — but the results are much the same: beyond a certain point, as pre-industrial populations expanded, material living standards fell and mortality tended to increase.

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Authors
  1. John Landers
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Liverpool, UK

    R. I. M. Dunbar (Professor of Psychology) (Professor of Psychology)

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© 1995 The Galton Institute

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Landers, J. (1995). Stopping, Starting and Spacing: the Regulation of Fertility in Historical Populations. In: Dunbar, R.I.M. (eds) Human Reproductive Decisions. Studies in Biology, Economy and Society. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23947-4_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23947-4_9

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-23949-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-23947-4

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