Population, Poverty and the Local Environment
A: List the major ideas, concepts or key points- point by point
B: Summarize the AUTHOR’s main point or idea- at LEAST 1-2 paragraphs
In this article it talks about how people blame population growth as a cause of poverty and environmental degradation so what has been happening is that in developing countries, decisions on whether to have a child and on how to share education, food, work, health care and local resources are in large measure made within small entities such as households. Birth rates are highest in societies where women have the least power in the family. Families with greater access to resources are in a position to limit their size and propel themselves into still higher income levels. Parental demand for children rather than an unmet need for contraceptives in large measure explains reproductive behavior in developing countries.
C: Write a reaction paragraph to the article stating your own thoughts on the topic, using specific citations from the article to support your views
After reading this article I've learned that economists have regarded poverty, population growth, and local environment as intertwined. Neither of the three factors cause the other, but are affected by the other two. Policies aimed at increasing a woman's productivity at home and improving their earnings in the market would directly empower. This shows that women don't have equal rights such as men do. It was surprising to see that women are willing to have more kids for help in the household. Children can be a source of future and current income, and can assist their parents in finding resources.
So what?:
Says who?:
What if?... The population kept on increasing:
What does this remind me of?:
My family. My parents had four kids for a reason, and that to also help and provide money and resources when they get old and me and my siblings get a job.
- Economists have regarded poverty, population growth, and local environment as intertwined
- Policies aimed at increasing a woman's productivity at home and improving their earnings in the market would directly empower
- In developing countries, decisions on whether to have a child and on how to share education, food, work, health care and local resources are in large measure made within small entities such as households.
- The process of economic development can erode traditional methods of control.
- Social rules are endangered by civil strife and by the takeover of resources by landowners or the state.
- Price of carrying a child is paid by the mother, cost of rearing the child is shared among kinship
- Perception of both low costs and high benefits of procreation induces households to produce too many children
- The chance of a woman in sub-Saharan Africa dying from childbirth is 1 in 6
- Others say that the elements of this casual chain is that poverty is the cause rather than the consequence of increasing population
- New perspective has significant implications for policies aimed at improving life for some of the world's most impoverished inhabitants
- Motives for wanting children range from because they are fun and playful to following tradition and religion
- Many also raise their nephews and nieces as the same rights are given as if those were their children
- If their are more children, more resources are required meaning more children. This continues endlessly until a stopping factor
- In a society where female life expectancy at birth is 50 years and the fertility rate is seven, nearly half of a woman's adult life is spent carrying a child or breast-feeding it
- In contrast, policies increasing women's productivity at home and improving their earnings in the marketplace would empower them. Greater earning power for women would raise for men the implicit costs for procreation.
- One motive relates to children as ends in themselves. It ranges from the desire to have children because they are playful and enjoyable, to the desire to obey the dictates of tradition and religion.
- More children are produced, further damaging the local environment and in turn providing the household with an incentive to enlarge
B: Summarize the AUTHOR’s main point or idea- at LEAST 1-2 paragraphs
In this article it talks about how people blame population growth as a cause of poverty and environmental degradation so what has been happening is that in developing countries, decisions on whether to have a child and on how to share education, food, work, health care and local resources are in large measure made within small entities such as households. Birth rates are highest in societies where women have the least power in the family. Families with greater access to resources are in a position to limit their size and propel themselves into still higher income levels. Parental demand for children rather than an unmet need for contraceptives in large measure explains reproductive behavior in developing countries.
C: Write a reaction paragraph to the article stating your own thoughts on the topic, using specific citations from the article to support your views
After reading this article I've learned that economists have regarded poverty, population growth, and local environment as intertwined. Neither of the three factors cause the other, but are affected by the other two. Policies aimed at increasing a woman's productivity at home and improving their earnings in the market would directly empower. This shows that women don't have equal rights such as men do. It was surprising to see that women are willing to have more kids for help in the household. Children can be a source of future and current income, and can assist their parents in finding resources.
So what?:
- Resources are very important to a family
- More kids mean more resources
- This continues endlessly until a stopping factor
- It all depends on how religious and traditional the family is
Says who?:
- Partha S. Dasgupta
- Gary S. Becker
- Elinor Ostrom
- Robert W. Fogel
What if?... The population kept on increasing:
- A decline in population will occur
- less resources
- Not enough space
What does this remind me of?:
My family. My parents had four kids for a reason, and that to also help and provide money and resources when they get old and me and my siblings get a job.