ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with the working population growing more rapidly than capital equipment, low elasticities of substitution between labour and capital and between labour and land, and inventions which are strongly biassed against wages. It discusses the possible influences of the workers' standard of living upon the growth rate of the working population. The chapter considers more carefully what is meant by the 'workers' standard of living'. It discusses the very important demographic factors which determine the age and sex composition of a population. The chapter distinguishes between crude death rates and crude birth rates on the one hand and specific mortality rates and specific fertility rates on the other hand. It also considers the true underlying forces of mortality and fertility in any community by considering the list of specific mortality rates for each sex and age group and by considering the list of specific fertility rates for each sex and age group.
