Why Population Management Should Rile You

Written on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 5:21 pm | by caffeine_sparks

Salient features of Professor Ernesto Pernia’s article on Population, Economy and Poverty:


Is it any wonder why we have fallen behind our Asian neighbors, and are likely to be left behind by the rest of developing Asia? We’re still debating such rudimentary matters as the population issue and fiscal deficits, while our neighbors have moved on to focus on more contemporary economic concerns, such as global competitiveness, investment climate and productivity growth.

A common view was that rapid population growth – of two percent or higher per year then prevailing in many developing countries – was more likely to hinder than foster economic development. This negative effect operates via reduced child care and human capital investment, lower household savings for private and public investments, and constraints on allocative efficiency, entrepreneurship and innovation. Rapid population growth results in available capital being thinly spread among many workers, as well as in fiscal and environmental externalities.

Other countries in East and Southeast Asia have experienced sharp reductions in poverty as a consequence of rapid and sustained economic growth, attributable to sound economic strategy that included strong population policy. These countries have benefited from a “demographic bonus” resulting from marked increases in the share of workers (population ages 15-64) relative to young dependents (ages 0-14), while the Philippines continues to bear a “demographic onus” – a large share of young dependents relative to workers (and savers). Thus, in the 1990s, research and the debate on the population issue in the developing world began to taper off, except in the Philippines.

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10 Responses to “Why Population Management Should Rile You”

  1. PSI on July 24th, 2008 9:08 pm

    Rizal must be turning in his grave the way the friars are still influencing national policy more than a century hence.

  2. kstuartsantiago on July 24th, 2008 9:40 pm

    this is such a fantastic response to this pro-life woman who said this on TV two days ago: “while another child is another mouth to feed, we forget that with that mouth are two hands and two feet.”

    and you almost want to scream at her and say: so now we’re pushing for child labor? what is this about invoking two hands and two feet in relation to dependent children?

  3. cvj on July 25th, 2008 8:04 am

    At one time, JAZA was optimistic that we would also benefit from the demographic dividend, i.e. the increase in the dependency ratio.

  4. sparks on July 25th, 2008 10:36 am

    whoa…wish you posted this yesterday!! but anyway, thanks for the links! ;)

  5. kstuartsantiago on July 25th, 2008 3:24 pm

    this is such a fantastic response to this pro-life woman who said this on TV two days ago: “while another child is another mouth to feed, we forget that with that mouth are two hands and two feet.”

    and you almost want to scream at her and say: so now we’re pushing for child labor? what is this about invoking two hands and two feet in relation to dependent children?

  6. mir on July 25th, 2008 3:51 pm

    In the Growth Report (www.growthcommission.org), part of its findings says:

    “The Commission understands that growth is not an end in itself. It is instead a means to several ends that matter profoundly to individuals and societies. Growth is, above all, the surest way to free society from poverty. Without it, a stark lack of material resources will tend to dominate everything else, narrowing people’s horizons, consuming them in a daily struggle to get by, and depriving them of the chance to fulfill their potential. Prosperity, on the other hand, free people to make choices, and allows a more equal distribution of opportunities. Human development, understood in its broadest sense, is both an ‘output’ of growth and one of the most important inputs. We have focused on sustained growth because it creates options for individuals and societies that are difficult or impossible to achieve otherwise.”

    “Government is not the proximate cause of growth. That role falls to the private sector, to investment and entrepreneurship responding to price signals and market forces. But stable, honest, and effective government is critical in the long run.”

  7. cvj on July 25th, 2008 6:22 pm

    Sorry Sparks, it’s been a busy week.

  8. dale on July 26th, 2008 3:34 pm

    well, let’s not focus on controling the volume of our population. it is everyone’s freedom to have as many children as the’y want. we should focus on what we should do to give them a better tommorow. focus on the programs wherin many people can eat the right food a day. its not easy to do it but if there is a way there will always be many ways…

  9. Bencard on July 26th, 2008 11:23 pm

    the thing, dale, is that it’s not only food that is the problem. think about law and order, housing, health, education, national security, general quality of life for all. how can a finite resource just enough for, say, 50 million accommodate another 100 million without disastrous consequences for everyone?

  10. neitzke_girl on October 2nd, 2008 4:20 pm

    population is rampant in our country most especialy in the phil. ,this kind of problem are the reason why our country will not progress,thats why our gov’t.was proposed a house bill in order to control the population.

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