Agricultural Employment and the Economic Transition from Malthus to Solow

RePEc Short ID: pra33
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6991-4677

Ravikumar, B.; Vandenbroucke, Guillaume

doi:10.20955/r.2026.01

Journal Article

Agricultural Employment and the Economic Transition from Malthus to Solow

Abstract: We develop a simple model where the final output is produced using two technologies—one with diminishing returns and another with constant returns—and labor as the sole input. We show that the rate of decline in the share of agricultural employment is a sufficient statistic for the onset of economic transition from stagnation to sustained growth. Our quantitative results are consistent with the implications for the evolution of per capita income for economies in various stages of development and structural transformation.

JEL Classification: O10; O13; O40;

https://doi.org/10.20955/r.2026.01