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Comparison with stationary and very fast rates of population growth shows modern population grwoth to have long-run positive effects on the standards of living. This is Julian Simon's contention, and he provides support for its validity in both more and less-developed countries. He notes that since each person constitutes a burden in the short run, whether population growth is judged good or bad depends on the importance the short run is accorded relative to the long run.The author first analyzes empirical data, formulating his conclusions using simulation models. He then reviews our knowledge of the effect of economic level upon population growth. A final section of his book considers the framework of welfare economics and values within which population policy decisions are now made. He finds that the implications of policy decisions can prove inconsistent with the values that prompt their recommendation.Originally published in 1977.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Il mistero delle nascite nell'era della diminuzione. Il calo naturale delle nascite e il rifiuto conscio e inconscio della procreazione in un approfondito saggio, con prefazione di Andrea Camilleri e i contributi di M. Cini, V. Cogliati Dezza, M.L. De Luca e M. Livi Bacci.

Bernard (Barney) Berelson had a major influence in the application of social science concepts and methods to population policy during the period from 1962 to 1980. This was the period when concern with population problems spread from a relatively small group of scholars and population activists to a much larger, diverse, international group of political and intellectual leaders and to the general public as well. There was an exponential growth in the number of scholars and service personnel in vari­ ous population and family specialities in this period. Barney came into the field with his appointment as Director of the Com­ munication Research Program of The Population Council in 1962. He had no previous training or experience in demography. Frank Notestein, Presi­ dent of The Population Council at the time, had the wisdom to appreciate the value and relevance of Barney's itTIpressive background in communica­ tion research and other social science areas, as well as his creative mind and leadership qualities. His influence on the Council's rapidly expanding program was so immediate and impressive that within a year, he was named Vice President. When Frank Notestein retired in 1968, Barney became President, a post he held for 6 very productive years.

For over half a century, policymakers committed to population control have perpetrated a gigantic, costly, and inhumane fraud upon the human race. They have robbed people of the developing countries of their progeny and the people of the developed world of their pocketbooks. Determined to stop population growth at all costs, those Mosher calls'population controllers'have abused women, targeted racial and religious minorities, undermined primary health care programs, and encouraged dictatorial actions if not dictatorship. They have skewed the foreign aid programs of the United States and other developed countries in an anti-natal direction, corrupted dozens of well-intentioned nongovernmental organizations, and impoverished authentic development programs. Blinded by zealotry, they have even embraced the most brutal birth control campaign in history: China's infamous one-child policy, with all its attendant horrors. There is no workable demographic definition of'overpopulation.'Those who argue for its premises conjure up images of poverty - low incomes, poor health, unemployment, malnutrition, overcrowded housing to justify anti-natal programs. The irony is that such policies have in many ways caused what they predicted - a world which is poorer materially, less diverse culturally, less advanced economically, and plagued by disease. The population controllers have not only studiously ignored mounting evidence of their multiple failures; they have avoided the biggest story of them all. Fertility rates are in free fall around the globe. Movements with billions of dollars at their disposal, not to mention thousands of paid advocates, do not go quietly to their graves. Moreover, many in the movement are not content to merely achieve zero population growth, they want to see negative population numbers. In their view, our current population should be reduced to one or two billion or so. Such a goal would keep these interest groups fully employed. It would also have dangerous consequences for a global environment.