Population, Poverty & Policy

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Understand macro–level concerns about rapid population growth and its economic consequences, and the short-lived economic advantages of a youthful population structure – the ‘demographic dividend'
• Comment on inequalities and wealth and their relationship with demographic processes.
• Describe the debates about the impacts of population growth on economic growth, both in its historical context and in the present day.
• Grasp key policy issues and proposed strategies related to poverty, development and population growth
• Understand micro level effects such as the adverse effect of poor health on the chances of individuals and households escaping poverty.
• Understand poverty concepts and measurement, and its characteristics and trends over time in all parts of the world – in poor countries, but also within rich countries.

The module content may vary to an extent from year to year according to the research interests of the module lecturers. However, indicative content includes:

• Poverty - concepts and measurement;
• Population growth and economic wellbeing;
• Demographic dividend
• COVID19, global inequality and poverty
• Population aging and depopulation Case study: Population change and policy in China
• Workshop—writing policy briefs
• Migration, immigration, race/ethnicity, and poverty
• Young adults, welfare support, and inequalities in transition to adulthood

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching and learning is through a mixture of a) lectures and b) seminars. Reading distributed in advance of the seminars provides the basis for learning through student-led discussion.

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

Text books, web sites, other sources of related information..

Internet Resources

Towards a conceptual framework on population, reproductive health, gender and poverty reduction. In UNFPA (ed.), Population and Poverty: Achieving Equity, Equality and Sustainability.

Journal Articles

Merrick, T. (2002). Population and policy: New views on an old controversy.. International Family Planning Perspectives, 28(1), pp. 41-46.

Ahlburg, D. (2002). Does population matter? A review essay. Population and Development Review, 28(2), pp. 329-350.

Textbooks

Chen, S. and Ravallion, M (2008). The developing world is poorer than we thought, but no less successful in the fight against poverty. Washington.

Collier, P. (2007). The bottom billion: Why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it.

Yeates, N. and Holden, C. (2009). The Global Social Policy Reader. Bristol.

Bloom, D.E., Canning, D., & Sevilla, J. (2003). The demographic dividend. A new perspective on the economic consequences of population change, Population Matters.. Santa Monica, U.S.

Birdsall, N., Kelley, A., & Sinding, S. (2001). Population matters: Demographic change, economic growth and poverty in the developing world.

Yeates, N. (eds) (2008). Understanding Global Social Policy. Bristol.

Assessment strategy

Penalties for non-attendance at seminars: up to 25%.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External