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Equation 9 · Part 1 · Who Builds 2100? The Demographic Engine of Technological Evolution

Symbol λ

λ\lambda
λ\lambda

What this part means

λ is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

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λ is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

The passage around this formula

…with steadily worsening returns — which is precisely the arrangement that a population no longer growing, and in some read of the evidence above shrinking after mid-century, cannot keep doing indefinitely. If n falls and λ\lambda and ϕ\phi stay where the historical data put them, the semi-endogenous growth relation says the rate of technological advance falls with it. That is not a prediction this article is making outright — Sections 4 and 5 below identify two separate mechanisms that could push back against exactly…

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