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AbstractThis two‐part article offers a critical appreciation of Malthus's political economy of population to mark the bi‐centenary of his Principles of Political Economy (1820). His general economic theory emerged after the first four editions of his famous Essay, in three steps: (1) a rapidly produced series of essays on tariffs, rents, and capital mal‐distribution (1814–1815); (2) consequent revision of the economic basis of the Essay (1817); and (3) formal statement in the Principles. His main economic writings thus belong to a later, more mature period of his work, and their evolution is of particular interest for demography on three counts. One is that his rethinking was stimulated directly by the need to rectify serious deficiencies he had come to recognize in the Essay. Second, this makes his later thought of more direct interest to today's study of population and development. Third, all three steps began in, and were sustained by, dialogue with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. The dialogue led to further thinking beyond the Essay, with major innovative developments. Comparison to the Smithian baseline shows (1) that the familiar stereotype of Malthus as prophet of population‐laden disaster is seriously incomplete; and (2) capital distribution replaces population distribution as a mechanism of growth, inducing a radical change in the concept of population.

This title addresses the need for review and assessment of the framework of interdisciplinary population studies. Limitations to prevailing post-war paradigms like the Evolutionary Synthesis and Demographic Transition were becoming evident by the 1970s. Subsequent decades have witnessed an immense expansion of population modelling and related empirical inquiry. The volume presents revised papers of an international symposium marking 40 years of the Human Sciences programme at the University of Oxford.

Aristotle's Politics contains the most extensive consideration of actual populations to survive from Antiquity. Population, for Aristotle, is a logistics of memberships. The size, fertility, and other properties of a state's population are determined by relationships among the several subpopulations that it comprises. This approach gives rise to a comprehensive logic that addresses many policy concerns of modern demography, yet within fundamentally different ideas of quantification and structure. Some of this logic fits easily with current demographic thinking. Relations among sub‐populations, for example, play a crucial role in population change because they are conduits of communication and reflect differences in education. Aristotle's method stands in contrast to modern demographic thinking, however, in treating migration, inequality, and the mutability of population memberships as primary processes of population change. Given that interest in this conjunction of issues is now central to the demography of globalization, there is added reason to consider Aristotle's insights as complementary to modern population studies. His principal case study, the constitution of Athens, illustrates the development of his thought.

This chapter draws on the longitudinal ethnographic and demographic
field study of three communities representing major Indonesian ethnicities
(Javanese, Sundanese, and Minangkabau), located in three of the five
provinces that, since 1990, have reported more than 7 per cent of
the population over the age of 60. Comparative ethnographic study
supported by panel surveys enables us to establish contexts and variations
in family and community support for older people, and the advantages
and disadvantages that may accrue in consequence to older men and
women. Similar patterns of socio-economic stratification exist in the three
communities, which have an important bearing on elderly well-being,
notably by influencing the supply of children, family network size and
structure, and intergenerational exchanges. Following a brief introduction,
in which the communities and research methodology are described, the
chapter notes two contrasting preference structures that differentiate
gender in the communities. Gender has a marked structural significance
in matrilineal societies, like the Minangkabau, that is not manifest for
the Javanese and Sundanese. Case studies then illustrate some aspects of
these structures. The chapter concludes with a brief look to the future,
by considering the expectations of current working age generations about
their own later lives, and the limitations of relying exclusively on aggregate
data to assess their likely policy needs.

Intro -- Ageing Without Children -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Foreword -- Chapter 1. Where are the Children? -- Part I. Asia -- Chapter 2. Problems of Elderly without Children -- Chapter 3. 'They Don't Need It, and I Can't Give It' -- Chapter 4. Adoption, Patronage and Charity -- Chapter 5. In the Absence of Family Support -- Part II. Europe -- Chapter 6. Demographic Change in Europe -- Chapter 7. British Pakistani Elderly without Children -- Chapter 8. Home-place, Movement and Autonomy -- Chapter 9. The Position of the Elderly in Greece Prior to the Second World War -- Notes on Contributors -- Index.