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Population and Environment

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  • Theodore Panayotou

Abstract

The past fifty years have witnessed two simultaneous and accelerating trends: an explosive growth in population and a steep increase in resource depletion and environmental degradation. These trends have fueled the debate on the link between population and environment that began 150 years earlier, when Malthus voiced his concern about the ability of the earth and its finite resources to feed an exponentially growing population. The purpose of this study is to review the literature on population and environment and to identify the main strands of thought and the assumptions that lie behind them. The author begins with a review of the historical perspective. He then reviews and assesses the evidence on the relationship between population and environment, focusing on selected natural and environmental resources: land use, water use, local pollution, deforestation and climate change. The author also reviews selected recent macro and micro perspectives. The new macro perspective introduces the environment-income relationship and examines the role of population growth and density in mediating this relationship. The new micro perspective introduces the close relationship between poverty and environmental degradation, also examining the roles of gender in decision-making and the role of children as economic assets in fertility decisions. Finally, the author carries out a comparative assessment of the approaches and methods employed in the literature to explain the wide variation in findings and predictions. This literature review demonstrates that there is little agreement on the relationship between population and growth, and even whether any relationship exists at all. Empirical research has been unable to resolve the issue because of limited data, divergent methodologies, and varying levels of analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Theodore Panayotou, 2000. "Population and Environment," CID Working Papers 54A, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cid:wpfacu:54a
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Azomahou, Theophile & Mishra, Tapas, 2009. "Stochastic environmental effects, demographic variation, and economic growth," MERIT Working Papers 2009-016, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    3. Robert Innes & George Frisvold, 2009. "The Economics of Endangered Species," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 485-512, September.
    4. Pascual, Unai & Barbier, Edward B., 2003. "Modelling Land Degradation In Low-Input Agriculture: The 'Population Pressure Hypothesis' Revised," 2003 Annual Meeting, August 16-22, 2003, Durban, South Africa 25827, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Theodore Lianos, 2013. "The world budget constraint," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1543-1553, December.
    6. Wako, Hassen, 2012. "Demographic changes and economic development: Application of the vector error correction model (VECM) to the case of Ethiopia," MPRA Paper 72618, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Nguyen Van, Phu & Azomahou, Theophile, 2007. "Nonlinearities and heterogeneity in environmental quality: An empirical analysis of deforestation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 291-309, September.
    8. Unai Pascual & Edward B. Barbier, 2006. "Deprived land‐use intensification in shifting cultivation: the population pressure hypothesis revisited," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 34(2), pages 155-165, March.
    9. Venkatachalam, L., 2007. "Environmental economics and ecological economics: Where they can converge?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 550-558, March.
    10. Lupi, Veronica & Marsiglio, Simone, 2021. "Population growth and climate change: A dynamic integrated climate-economy-demography model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    11. Xu Xu & Kevin Sylwester, 2016. "Environmental Quality and International Migration," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(1), pages 157-180, February.
    12. Theodore P. Lianos & Anastasia Pseiridis, 2016. "Sustainable welfare and optimum population size," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1679-1699, December.
    13. Bhattacharya, Haimanti & Innes, Robert, 2005. "Bi-Directional Links Between Population Growth and the Environment: Evidence From India," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19404, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    population; environment; economic growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q20 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - General

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