Population and Economic Growth- A Theoretical and Empirical Study

Authors

  • Sarat Kumar Nath

Abstract

Population is in fact the most dynamic and influential economic variable. It has
profound impact on economic growth. At first, it may affect economic growth negatively by
reducing the per capita GDP. But if a country can utilize the growing population in a productive
way then she will definitely get the payoff. Moreover, various aspects of population structure
like- rural-urban distribution, general fertility rate, crude death rate, maternal and infant mortality
rates, and dependency ratio also predict the level of economic attainment of a country. Hence we
may say that there is a optimum level of population. If actual population of a country is more
than the optimum level then increase in population may deteriorate the country. If actual
population is less than the optimum level then the country can acquire the benefit of growing
population.Present paper answers various question regarding magnitude and direction of
relationship between population and economic growth. Author used various econometric models
and tests for the analysis.

Published

2020-11-01

Issue

Section

Articles