This volume presents a new perspective on demographic transition, economic growth, and national development via exploration of the Third World economies. It provides a multidimensional approach to the close relationship between the concept of the chaos and complexity theory and provides a deliberate glance into the plight of policy formulation for demographic transition, economic growth, and development of Third World countries. The volume discusses the efficiency of good strategies and practices and their impact on business growth and economic growth, depending on the depth and diversity of infrastructure sector in particular and overall socioeconomic development in general. Economic Growth and Demographic Transition in Third World Nations: A Chaos and Complexity Theory Perspective covers a conglomeration of various aspects and issues related to the effect of demographic transition on socio-economic development in Third World countries, especially in the post-globalized era. It focuses on the applicability of the chaos and complexity theory in order to elicit transformational policies and aims to discuss and predict future projections of the new world of the economic growth policies.

Until the early to mid-1970s, social scientists in the fields of population and development were largely going their own ways. Demographers relied almost exclusively on demographic transition theory as their para digm for understanding the role of development in population change and fertility decline. Conversely, most development economists and other specialists were certainly aware of the constraints placed upon development objectives by population growth. However, the main de velopment theories paid little attention to population and the implica tions of population growth for development. Indeed it was not until after the World Population Conference in Bucharest in 1974 that the interaction of population and development became a serious and pur posive theme for social scientific study. Accordingly, since about the mid-1970s, an extensive literature in the field of population and develop ment has been generated. And in 1975, under the auspices of The Popu lation Council, the journal Population and Development Review was found ed, a journal which in the past decade has developed into the premier publication in the world for work in this area. But our understanding of development as it refers to change in Third World countries remained fragmented. Moreover, our understanding of the linkages and interac tions between population and development was very limited. It is in this regard that Ozzie Simmons's Perspectives on Development and Population Growth in the Third World will certainly have an impact.

The effect of demography on economic performance has been the subject of intense debate in economics for nearly two centuries. In recent years opinion has swung between the Malthusian views of Coale and Hoover, and the cornucopian views of Julian Simon. Unfortunately, until recently, data were too weak and analytical models too limited to provide clear insights into the relationship. As a result, economists as a group have not been clear or conclusive. This volume, which is based on a collection of papers that heavily rely on data from the 1980s and 1990s and on new analytical approaches, sheds important new light on demographic—economic relationships, and it provides clearer policy conclusions than any recent work on the subject. In particular, evidence from developing countries throughout the world shows a pattern in recent decades that was not evident earlier: countries with higher rates of population growth have tended to see less economic growth. An analysis of the role of demography in the "Asian economic miracle" strongly suggests that changes in age structures resulting from declining fertility create a one-time "demographic gift" or window of opportunity, when the working age population has relatively few dependants, of either young or old age, to support. Countries which recognize and seize on this opportunity can, as the Asian tigers did, realize healthy bursts in economic output. But such results are by no means assured: only for countries with otherwise sound economic policies will the window of opportunity yield such dramatic results. Finally, several of the studies demonstrate the likelihood of a causal relationship between high fertility and poverty. While the direction of causality is not always clear and very likely is reciprocal (poverty contributes to high fertility and high fertility reinforces poverty), the studies support the view that lower fertility at the country level helps create a path out of poverty for many families. Population Matters represents an important further step in our understanding of the contribution of population change to economic performance. As such, it will be a useful volume for policymakers both in developing countries and in international development agencies.

"This volume presents a new perspective on demographic transition, economic growth, and national development via exploration of the Third World economies. It provides a multidimensional approach to the close relationship between the concept of the chaos and complexity theory and provides a deliberate glance into the plight of policy formulation for demographic transition, economic growth, and development and Third World countries. The volume discusses the efficiency of good strategies and practices and their impact on business growth and economic growth, depending on the depth and diversity of infrastructure sector in particular and overall socioeconomic development in general"--

There is long-standing debate on how population growth affects national economies. A new report from Population Matters examines the history of this debate and synthesizes current research on the topic. The authors, led by Harvard economist David Bloom, conclude that population age structure, more than size or growth per se, affects economic development, and that reducing high fertility can create opportunities for economic growth if the right kinds of educational, health, and labor-market policies are in place. The report also examines specific regions of the world and how their differing policy environments have affected the relationship between population change and economic development.

"An extremely important book which contains a number of uniformly excellent papers on a variety of topics relating, to various degrees, to the nexus of demographic-economic interrelationships for presently developing countries."—William J. Serow, Southern Economic Journal "An important landmark in the growing field of economic demography."—Dudley Kirk, Journal of Developing Areas