Demography

Professor: TBD
Units: 0.5
Elective Course
Concentration: Social Science

This course will introduce the main concepts and methods in demography, related to fertility, mortality, and migration, with an emphasis on the overall policy implications of these components. Discussions about demographic issues will be linked to the methods needed to analyze these topics.

First, the course will cover topics related to population growth and decline, age-sex composition, data sources, and the association between demographic transition and economic outcomes. Second, it will address trends and differentials in fertility, proximate determinants of fertility, period and cohort measures, and tempo-quantum effects. The third focus will present mortality measures, epidemiological transition, causes of mortality decline, life tables, and behavioral and policy influences on health.

The class on migration will evaluate trends and differentials in population flows, estimation of migration rates, urbanization, effects on receiving and sending areas, and immigration policies. The final class will cover demographic projections, population aging, labor force participation, and population policies.