Population, Poverty & Policy

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Understand the importance of population age structure on poverty and economic growth, and the potential impacts of the demographic dividend and rapidly aging populations.
• Understand micro level effects such as the adverse effect of poor health on the chances of individuals and households escaping poverty.
• Comment on inequalities and wealth and their relationship with demographic processes.
• Understand how policy can influence both poverty and population processes, and the interactions between them
• Understand the debates around the influence of population growth on economic growth, both in historical the current context.
• Understand the multidimensional characteristics of poverty and approaches and concepts of poverty measurement

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 mostly through interactive lecture sessions or workshops as well as self-study. Reading will be distributed in advance to promote engagement and debate.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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 Information

Repeat type: Internal & External