The author examines "the place and role of quality of life in economic evaluation and welfare economics. That exercise certainly involves norms and judgments, but it is also influenced by our reading of factual possibilities, and it influences, in its turn, the nature of prescriptive possibilities we explore and the descriptive statements we choose to make. In this sense, the topic is not confined to welfare economics and involves other branches of economics as well." This essay consists of two lectures, the second of which examines how longevity, life expectancy, and gender- and race-determined mortality differences can contribute to our understanding of quality of life.
"Mainland China and Taiwan have both successfully undergone remarkable transitions from high to low fertility in recent decades. Comparing the transitions of the two Chinese populations brings out striking similarities in the changes in age patterns of fertility, but distinctive contrasts between the trends and speed of declines.... An overview of the history of population dynamics in the past 500 years reaffirms the assertion that fertility and mortality rates in ancient China were primarily reflections of biological responses to population pressure on resources. The results of the regression analysis of this study demonstrates that this density-dependent relationship has gradually vanished as the deliberate control of fertility prevails in contemporary China and Taiwan. The prevalence of fertility control is in large part attributable in Taiwan to the rational response of the population to changes in economic and social conditions that favor fewer children while the size of families in China is largely prescribed by the government there." (SUMMARY IN ENG)
Urbanization trends in the Lower Yangtze region of China from 1500 to 1900 are examined. Data are from a variety of sources, including genealogies, local records, and other literature. An attempt is made to analyze the demographic characteristics of the urban population. "The demographic characteristics in respect to marriage, fertility and mortality found from the genealogies do reveal that there were dissimilarities between the rural and urban dwelling populations. Moreover, findings related to migration tend to support that rural to urban migration was an important factor that speeded up urbanization in the Lower Yangtze Region." (SUMMARY IN ENG)
"This paper has firstly discussed the development strategy and urbanization in [the Republic of] Korea for the period 1960-1980. [This is] followed with an intensive review of the past and recent population redistribution policy of Korea. Finally the authors make some general suggestions which are characterized as an expansion of opportunities and services in the underprivileged areas." (summary in CHI)
A historical review of the relationship between agricultural change and population growth in China is presented. "This paper will try to discuss four aspects of agricultural change that are related to population growth. They are: (1) expansion of agricultural frontier, (2) changes in cultivation methods and land use, (3) improvements in agricultural technology, and (4) irrigation and water-control. Each of these aspects [is] treated briefly with temporal and spatial perspectives...." The relevance of the Boserup theory that population pressure leads to agricultural development is considered in the Chinese context. It is found that some evidence supports the theory. (summary in CHI)
