Community-Level Population Policy: An Exploration

Abstract

For the less developed countries of the world the most promising means of reducing birthrates is to reduce the size of the group within which the costs of children are spread and to which the benefits of lowered fertility would accrue. This course of population policy development is the focus of the discussion; the context of the discussion is restricted to the rural sector of densely populated countries with relatively low levels of industrialization (South and Southeast Asia are the main regions in mind). The thesis is that a major reduction in fertility can be accomplished by means of a unified community development program provided that appropriate inducement is given to the social control of fertility. If such a program is otherwise successful it is likely that social pressures regulating births will appear naturally. In instances where high fertility is itself inhibiting success policies should be designed to establish or reinforce community autonomy and solidarity and to provide incentives at the community level that reward economic performance and demographic restraint. The shift in emphasis called for in government population programs is from regarding individuals as clients to regarding communities as clients. Rural population growth and economic stagnation in densely populated low income countries is described. If the potential effectiveness of a unified economic-demographic development strategy at the community level is conceded attention needs to be on policy measures that might constitute such a strategy -- community solidarity containment of negative spillovers (the relevant village-level spillovers concern movement of people environmental degradation and the agricultural surplus) and restructuring of incentives.