This book evaluates the evidence on the impacts of population growth on well-being in developing countries and concludes that slowing population growth from high current levels, especially in poor, agrarian societies facing pressure on land and resources, is advantageous to economic development,...

The results of recent correlations showing a negative impact of population growth on economic development in cross-country data for the 1980s, versus "non-significant" correlations widely found for the 1960s and 1970s, are examined using contemporaneous and lagged components of demographic...

There appeared to be a dramatic shift of thinking from an alarmist and pessimistic assessment of the consequences of population growth prevalent before 1985, to a more balanced and eclectic assessment thereafter. It is argued that this shift, sometimes denoted as "revisionist thinking," is due...

It appears that the widely-observed finding in the literature showing little or no relationship between population growth (and dependency) and saving requires modification based on panel and cross-section estimation of aggregate country data. First, while it is consistent with an update of the...

A review of the large empirical literature using household-level data on the impacts of family size on educational outcomes (enrollment, attendance, completion) reveals mixed results. Many studies fail to uncover statistically significant links; those that do usually reveal small impacts. More...

The effect of demography on economic performance has been the subject of intense debate in economics for nearly two centuries. In recent years opinion has swung between the Malthusian views of Coale and Hoover, and the cornucopian views of Julian Simon. Unfortunately, until recently, data were...

This survey paper updates what is known about the linkages between demographic change (changes in age distributions, the size and the growth rate of population, and migration) and the capacity of countries to provide food, to reduce poverty, and to maintain their environment. This assessment...

A survey of the literature by economists specializing in population issues reveals a distinctly non-alarmist assessment of the impacts of rapid population growth. This is contrary to the assessments by non-specialists, and those in other fields. Economists tend to emphasize longer-run impacts,...