IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v8y1996i5p597-623.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Famine, demography and endemic poverty

Author

Listed:
  • S. R. Osmani

    (University of Ulster)

Abstract

This paper investigates the possible long-term effects of famine on endemic poverty. Four alternative hypotheses are considered-one Malthusian and three post-Malthusian. The Malthusian hypothesis regards famine as a temporary escape valve from extreme privations, from the point of view of the survivors of famine. By contrast, the first post-Malthusian hypothesis views famine as having been the principle perpetuator of endemic poverty in the pre-modern world. The next hypothesis takes the extreme opposite view that famine has no significant long-term effect on poverty. The final hypothesis covers the middle ground and contends that even though famine may not be the principal perpetuator of poverty, it does have the potential of accentuating endemic poverty. The paper argues in favour of the final hypothesis and elaborates on the channels-some demographic, some economic, and some social-through which the long-term adverse effects of famine are likely to be transmitted.

Suggested Citation

  • S. R. Osmani, 1996. "Famine, demography and endemic poverty," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(5), pages 597-623.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:8:y:1996:i:5:p:597-623
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1328(199609)8:5<597::AID-JID401>3.0.CO;2-W
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Phelim Boyle & Cormac Grádo, 1986. "Fertility trends, excess mortality, and the Great Irish Famine," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 23(4), pages 543-562, November.
    2. Fogel, Robert W, 1994. "Economic Growth, Population Theory, and Physiology: The Bearing of Long-Term Processes on the Making of Economic Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 369-395, June.
    3. Robert W. Fogel, 1989. "Second Thoughts on the European Escape from Hunger: Famines, Price Elasticities, Entitlements, Chronic Malnutrition, and Mortality Rates," NBER Historical Working Papers 0001, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Richard A. Easterlin, 1980. "Population and Economic Change in Developing Countries," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number east80-1.
    5. Corbett, Jane, 1988. "Famine and household coping strategies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 16(9), pages 1099-1112, September.
    6. Rourke, Kevin O', 1991. "Did the Great Irish Famine Matter?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(1), pages 1-22, March.
    7. Ronald Lee, 1980. "A Historical Perspective on Economic Aspects of the Population Explosion: The Case of Preindustrial England," NBER Chapters, in: Population and Economic Change in Developing Countries, pages 517-566, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Richard H. Steckel, 1995. "Stature and the Standard of Living," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1903-1940, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schultz, T. Paul, 2010. "Population and Health Policies," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4785-4881, Elsevier.
    2. John Komlos, 2009. "Recent Trends in Height by Gender and Ethnicity in the US in Relation to Levels of Income," NBER Working Papers 14635, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Maria-Dolores, Ramon & Martínez Carrion, José Miguel, 2012. "The comovement between height and some economic development indicators in Spain," UMUFAE Economics Working Papers 26464, DIGITUM. Universidad de Murcia.
    4. Meisel-Roca, Adolfo & Ramírez-Giraldo, María Teresa & Santos-Cárdenas, Daniela, 2019. "Long run relationship between biological well being, and economic development in Colombia," Working papers 24, Red Investigadores de Economía.
    5. Logan, Trevon D., 2009. "Health, human capital, and African-American migration before 1910," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 169-185, April.
    6. Vrachimis Konstantinos & Zachariadis Marios, 2013. "A contribution to the empirics of welfare growth," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 213-244, April.
    7. Scott A. Carson, 2010. "Nineteenth Century US African-American and White Female Statures: Insight from US Prison Records," CESifo Working Paper Series 3169, CESifo.
    8. Carson, Scott Alan, 2011. "Height of female Americans in the 19th century and the antebellum puzzle," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 157-164, March.
    9. Sonia Bhalotra & Samantha Rawlings, 2013. "Gradients of the Intergenerational Transmission of Health in Developing Countries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 660-672, May.
    10. Karimi, Seyed M. & Basu, Anirban, 2018. "The effect of prenatal exposure to Ramadan on children’s height," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 69-83.
    11. Evgeny V. Balatsky, 2020. "Driving the economy: The role of a special economic sector," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 21(3), pages 5-27, October.
    12. Keith Blackburn & Niloy Bose & M. Emranul Haque, 2011. "Public Expenditures, Bureaucratic Corruption And Economic Development," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 79(3), pages 405-428, June.
    13. Morgan, Stephen L., 2009. "Stature and economic development in South China, 1810-1880," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 53-69, January.
    14. Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 2009. "Health and Well-Being in Udaipur and South Africa," NBER Chapters, in: Developments in the Economics of Aging, pages 317-349, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Pedro Cavalcanti Ferreira & Samuel de Abreu Pessoa, 2007. "The Effects of Longevity and Distortions on Education and Retirement," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 10(3), pages 472-493, July.
    16. Francesco Ricci & Marios Zachariadis, 2013. "Education Externalities on Longevity," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 80(319), pages 404-440, July.
    17. K Blackburn & H Issa, 2002. "Endogenous Life Expectancy in a Simple Model of Growth," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 13, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    18. Rodrigo R. Soares, 2005. "Mortality Reductions, Educational Attainment, and Fertility Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 580-601, June.
    19. David N. Weil & Oded Galor, 2000. "Population, Technology, and Growth: From Malthusian Stagnation to the Demographic Transition and Beyond," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 806-828, September.
    20. David Cutler & Angus Deaton & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2006. "The Determinants of Mortality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 97-120, Summer.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:8:y:1996:i:5:p:597-623. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.