Professor: David Horlacher
Office: Munroe 311
Contact:
– Phone: Extension 5623
– Email: david.horlacher@middlebury.edu
Classroom: Munroe 405
Meeting Times: T-R, 8:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Office Hours: M, T, W 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
This course will use economic analysis to assess the impact of rapid population growth on economic development, the environment and economic inequality. It will analyze the rapid “graying” of the industrialized countries and their struggle to cope with international migration. It will assess the causes of urban decay in the North and the explosive growth of cities in the South. The course will consider household-level decision making process; the effects of changing family structures; and the need to improve the status of women.
Over your working lives, the next four decades, the world’s population will increase from 7 to more than 9 billion. At the same time, the populations of Europe and North America will become much older. Rural populations will decline; while the number of “megacities” will explode. All the while, the basic economic, social and demographic unit, the family, will be undergoing rapid change, especially in regard to the roles of women. Over the next twelve weeks we will try to answer a series of questions concerning the socio-economic implications of this massive change in the number, age distribution and geographic location and family structure of mankind.
First, we will investigate the impact of rapid population growth on efforts to feed, clothe, educate and employ younger generations in the Third World. We will assess the implications of this growth, especially for the protection of the environment and reducing the gaps between the rich and the poor.
Though world population continues to grow rapidly, Europe and Japan are increasingly concerned by the sharp slow-down in their population growth rates. Because fertility levels have fallen below replacement levels, their populations are rapidly growing older. Not only must they generate adequate savings and more efficiently utilize their labor forces, they must also find humane ways to care for larger and larger numbers of the “very old”. What will be the consequences of the “graying” of our populations for younger people, like yourselves, who will soon be graduating from college and entering the labor force?
The developed and the developing countries are struggling to deal with migration, a powerful response to poverty. Should the industrialized countries rejuvenate their populations by encouraging inflows of international migrants from the Third World? How would increased international immigration affect capitalists and working men and women in both developed and developing countries?
Cities are powerful engines of economic growth. Today the majority of the worldd’s population lives in cities. Now the United States and the rest of the world ares struggling to cope with the consequences of urban decay. In particular, Third World cities face a tidal wave of poverty stricken migrants flowing in from nearby rural areas. What can we learn from the experiences of these countries about policies to redistribute human resources?
National population trends are simply the sum of countless household-level decisions about whether to move, to marry and to have children. How have family structures changed around the world under the pressure of economic and demographic forces? In particular, what will be the economic and demographic impact of the rapidly changing status of women?
In the midst of these fundamental transformations, can we draw useful insights about population and socio-economic policies that are workable, equitable and yet maximize economic progress? That is a key question we will try to answer in this course.
Schedule of Topics
Required Texts
Grading & Organization