Population Growth and Economic Growth - A Complicated Relationship

Rising concern regarding slow population growth in the advanced world (and China)  -

An interesting piece on declining population growth rates in major economies:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dropping-birth-rates-threaten-global-economic-growth/

Japan’s demographic shift – Impact on household saving rate

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/business/international/japans-recovery-is-complicated-by-a-decline-in-household-savings.html

The NYT article notes:

“The country’s savings rate, long one of the highest in the world, is now below zero. In short, Japan’s citizens are spending more than they earn.…

Personal savings were a main ingredient in Japan’s postwar economic miracle. Through the 1970s and 1980s, the government encouraged people to save with tax breaks and other incentives. The goal was to secure plentiful domestic funding for the country’s expanding industries.…

The decline has accelerated recently, as baby boomers have retired and begun to live off money they set aside during their working lives. It’s a vast demographic group — a quarter of the population is now over 65.”

Meanwhile, Adair Turner is relatively sanguine about the decline in fertility rates:

http://www.socialeurope.eu/2014/08/shrinking-population-always-bad-thing/

--

Radically different concerns in the developing world:

Africa’s population: Can it survive such speedy growth? (The Economist)

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21613349-end-century-almost-half-worlds-children-may-be-african-can-it

Africa’s population: Miracle or Malthus? (The Economist)

http://www.economist.com/node/21541834