On Employment and Poverty
With some notable exceptions, economists are increasingly convinced that there are links from high fertility and resulting population growth on the one hand to persistent poverty and wage stagnation in developing countries on the other. High fertility and population growth appear to promote the transmission of poverty across generations. Simultaneously, they widen the gaps in income and health status that separate the poor from the upper and middle classes.9Because of disproportionately high levels of fertility among the lowest income groups in developing countries, population growth is likely to depress wages at the bottom end of the pay scale.10 A related concern, difficult to test, lies in the possibility that large numbers of low-skill, low-wage laborers in some developing countries can slow the adoption of more efficient, labor-saving technologies. Examples from the newly industrializing countries of Asia suggest that when wage growth and relative income equality combine with investments in education and technology, greater opportunities for sustained economic growth emerge.11
