Population Matters: Demographic Change, Economic Growth, and Poverty in the Developing World. This item is unavailable.Population Matters: Demographic Change, Economic Growth, and Poverty in the Developing World

Does rapid population growth diminish countries' economic development prospects? Do policies aimed at reducing high fertility help families escape poverty? These questions have been at the heart of policy debates since the time of Malthus, and have been particularly heated during the last half-century of explosive Third World population growth. In this carefully constructed collection of recent studies and analyses, the authors offer a nuanced, yet clear and positive answer to these questions-a refreshing step forward from the ambiguous conclusions of much of the literature of the 1970s and 1980s.

Nancy Birdsall is President of the Center for Global Development and Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she directs the economic reform project. She was the Executive Vice President of the Inter-American Development Bank from 1993 until September 1998. She is the author of numerous publications on economic development issues. Her most recent work is on the causes and effects of inequality in a globalizing world.

Allen C. Kelley is James B. Duke Professor of Economics, Duke University.

Steven W. Sinding is Director-General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, headquartered in London. He directs a global federation of 147 affiliates operating programmes in 180 countries, and six regional offices around the world. Prior to joing IPPF, Dr Sinding was Professor of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy in Columbia's School for International and Public Affairs.