1st Edition

Technological Prospects And Population Trends

    236 Pages
    by Routledge

    211 Pages
    by Routledge

    The world’s population is now estimated at over 5 billion, and projections call for a continued high growth rate, predominantly in the less-developed countries. Concern over the consequences of this situation has led to numerous public policy debates, and the complex interrelationships between population and technology have become an important new topic in demographic research. The papers in this book are based on a symposium entitled “Technological Prospects and Population Trends” arranged for the 150th National Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New York City in May 1984. The book focuses on clarification of the impact that technological development and population change have on one another. For instance, how may population and related socioeconomic trends be conditioned by expected or foreseeable technological changes? What is the impact of population on technology in both the developed and newly industrializing areas of the world? Linking demography with developments in the major areas of agriculture, education, contraception, longevity, and health care, the distinguished contributors offer diverse yet integrated perspectives on what is fast becoming one of the major issues of our time.

    Preface -- An Overview -- Population Growth and Agricultural Productivity -- Education, Population Trends, and Technological Change -- Agrarian and Industrial Futures: Comments on the Preceding Chapters -- Contraceptives for the Twenty-First Century -- Prospects and Implications of Extending Life Expectancy -- The Population Implications of Breakthroughs in Biomedical Technologies for Controlling Mortality and Fertility -- Conclusions

    Biography

    Thomas J. Espenshade is a professor of sociology and associate director of the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Formerly the director of the Program in Demographic Studies at The Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., his research has included estimates of the economic costs parents incur in rearing children, a longitudinal analysis of changes in U.S. family and household structure, and the economic and social impacts of immigration to the United States. George J. Stolnitz is a professor of economics and director of the Population Institute for Research and Training at Indiana University in Bloomington. His principal fields of interest are demograpy and population-development interrelations, and he has published numerous scholarly papers on these topics. Dr. Stolnitz is a past president of the Population Association of America and he has served as a consultant for the United Nations and many other international organizations.