Longevity, pollution and growth

Abstract

We analyze the interplay between longevity, pollution and growth. We develop an OLG model where longevity, pollution and growth are endogenous. The authorities may provide two types of public services, public health and environmental maintenance, that participate to increase agents' life expectancy and to sustain growth in the long term. We show that global dynamics might be featured by a high growth rate equilibrium, associated with longer life expectancy and a environmental poverty trap. We examine changes in public policies: increasing public intervention on health or environmental maintenance display opposite effects on global dynamics, i.e. on the size of the trap and on the level of the stable balanced growth path. On the contrary, each type of public policy induces a negative leverage on the long run rate of growth.

The Cost of Pollution on Longevity, Welfare and Economic Stability

“…For instance, in Jouvet et al (2010), longevity raises with private health investment, but suffers from pollution. Other recent papers rather consider that the survival probability depends on public health and pollution (see for instance Pautrel 2008Pautrel , 2009Varvarigos 2010;Raffin and Seegmuller 2014). We make a bridge between these different specifications assuming that longevity depends on pollution, private and public health.…”

Nonlinear Dynamics in Coevolution of Economic and Environmental Systems

“…These results show how there exist sufficient conditions to get local indeterminacy, and they are affected by the value of η, 15 high enough values of δ and low enough values of θ (see the numerical example in Figure 13 where, given two initial values for the state variables (K 0 , E 0 ) sufficiently close to their stationary values in P * 1 , there exists a continuum of initial values l 0 such that the trajectories are attracted by the limit cycle around to P * 1 ). In the case (iii), where P * is the unique stationary state, the trace of the Jacobian matrix J * is negative for some values of E, and P * is a saddle with a two-dimensional stable manifold.…”

“…In the case (iii), where P * is the unique stationary state, the trace of the Jacobian matrix J * is negative for some values of E, and P * is a saddle with a two-dimensional stable manifold. By increasing the value of E (taken as bifurcation parameter) three 15 Indeed, a further condition is given by η ≥ ǫ ǫ+αβ . chances can be obtained: (a) P * remains a saddle with a twodimensional stable manifold and no Hopf bifurcations occur; (b) P * remains a saddle with a two-dimensional stable manifold but two Hopf bifurcations occur; (c) P * becomes a source and only one Hopf bifurcation occurs.…”

Pollution, Public Health Care, and Life Expectancy when Inequality Matters

“…it is assumed that life expectancy and environmental quality are jointly determined. In an extension to the model by Mariani et al (2010), Raffin and Seegmuller (2012) studied the path of pollution and economic growth when households' longevity is endogenously determined not only by environmental quality but also by health policy. While economic growth may induce negative externalities on the environment, it may also be the engine of growth for investment into health and thereby enhance life expectancy.…”

“…While economic growth may induce negative externalities on the environment, it may also be the engine of growth for investment into health and thereby enhance life expectancy. As argued in Raffin and Seegmuller (2012) the tax base will be positively associated with higher economic growth and hence more resources will be available to finance investments such as health expenditures and abatement measures. These models allow for multiple steady states, with a low level trap of high pollution and low life expectancy and a high level equilibrium with low pollution and high life expectancy.…”