segunda-feira, março 10, 2003

A pausa no Blog e a menopausa ótima

Você nunca achou que iria encontrar artigos sobre menopausa aqui, né? Aí vai:

Is Menopause Optimal?

Abstract

Various theories have been put forward to explain the fact that humans experience menopause while virtually no animals do. This paper aims to investigate one such theory: as human babies are usually large and have long gestation periods, a substantial risk of death exists for the mother. It makes therefore sense to impose a stopping rule for fertility. However, this stopping age should not be too low, for the mother needs children to support her during old age. Given an objective (support for old age) and demographics (mortality of mother and children), an optimal age for menopause can be calculated. Using demographic data from populations that have seen little influence from modern medicine, this model is solved for the optimal menopause age, which is then compared to empirical evidence.

O autor, Christian Zimmermann, tem uma ótima página sobre ciclos econômicos reais. Faz tempo que eu baixei este artigo dele...bem, mulheres, aí está a minha colaboração "feminista". :-)