Testing unified growth theory: Technological progress and the child quantity‐quality tradeoff
检验统一增长理论:技术进步与子女数量—质量权衡
A core mechanism of unified growth theory is that accelerating technological progress induces mass education and, through interaction with child quantity‐quality substitution, a decline in fertility. Using unique new data for 21 OECD countries over the period 1750–2000, we test, for the first time, the validity of this core mechanism of unified growth theory. We measure a country's technological progress as patents per capita, R&D intensity, and investment in machinery,…