G. M. Farooq and G. B. Simmons (eels.). Fertility in Developing Countries. London: The MacMillan Press (for the International Labour Office). 1985. xXiii + 533 pp

In: The Pakistan development review: PDR, Band 26, Heft 1, S. 119-120

Abstract

In 1972 the United Nations Fund for Population Activities
initiated support for a programme of research within the International
Labour Organization on population and employment. Determinants of
fertility have been a major theme in this research programme, as is
evident in an earlier Progress Report on the programme [3]. The book
here reviewed is an attempt to distil some general conclusions from this
research, and to present ideas and evidence not included in the 1982
publication. The first section of the book contains a summary of
theories of fertility determination; a brief description of the findings
of empirical research on fertility, and of the problems of empirical
research on the economics of fertility; some comments on the relevance
for policy of research on the economics of fertility; and some
suggestions for more fruitful research strategies. The second part deals
with selected methodological problems: the definition and measurement of
fertility; econometric problems of analysing cross-sectional and
time-series data; estimation and interpretation of aggregate data;
specification and estimation of models fertility; and the uses of
simulation techniques in studying the effects of economic policy on
fertility. As this list of topics indicates, the emphasis in this
section (and in most of the book) is on research on fertility by
economists. The last chapter in the second section, however, describes
anthropological approaches to the study of fertility. The final section
contains six case studies on Kenya, Nigeria, rural India, rural Turkey,
Yugoslavia, and a comparative study of Costa Rica and Mexico.