Sunday, November 15, 2009

William Easterly's The Elusive Quest for Growth - Chapter 5

Population alarmists believe that increasing population is going to be the cause of famine and devastation. However Easterly and I are not convinced.
He points out that no one cannot afford condoms because they are much cheaper in the long run than having children. I would point out that poor citizens might not think in this economic mindset. Also, many of these people having so many children might actually want to have children.
Easterly writes that population grew rapidly in the 19th century, but humanity survived. He argues the reason for this is that people are not deadweight to GDP, they can actually add to the economy. Over time technology has also allowed for more food to be produced on less land.
His conclusion is that since rich people invest more in education because they have a higher rate of return per child, governments should create incentives to invest in people. This will cause citizens to have less children and spend more on those few kids.
I enjoy this lambasting of population alarmism because the philosophy is so vehemently against the value of human life. Our goal should never be to reduce people. It should be to increase the standard of living for however many people that so happen to be born.

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