Economic Consequences of Population Change in the Third World

Abstract

The impact of rapid population growth on economic development in third world countries is explored. "Section I provides an empirical point of reference by summarizing some of the salient demographic trends in the Third World. Section II takes up analytical perspectives useful to assessing the impacts of population on development. A preliminary empirical appraisal of the relationship between population and economic growth is provided in Section III, followed in Sections IV-VI by an examination of the effects of demographic change on the scale of production, the rate of saving and the composition of investment, and the rate and form of technical change in agriculture. Section VII concludes with a summary assessment and some qualifications relating to government policies, ecology, and values.