TY - JOUR
AB -  Comments and Discussion Comments and Discussion Fredrik Sjöholm: A few decades ago, one of the main policy concerns was high global population growth and how this would impact food security, the environment, and economic development. What is sometimes referred to as the ªrst demographic transition boosted the population when fertility rates were high and mortality rates declined. High population growth continues to be a serious problem in some pockets around the world. The most notable country of such characteristics in East Asia is Timor Leste (East Timor), with a fertility rate at about 7.8. It is typically the case that such high fertility rates eventually put enormous stress on public ªnances. Another common problem is that job creation is insufªcient to lift the growing working-age cohort out of poverty. Countries like Timor Leste are becoming increasingly rare, however, and the main focus of the population debate is instead turning to the economic consequences of the declining fertility rates and how we should deal with declining population growth rates. The current transition is sometimes referred to as the second demographic transition, and demographers have focused their attention on explaining the higher mortality rates. The most important explanation is the 
TI - Comments and Discussion
JF - Asian Economic Papers
DO - 10.1162/asep.2006.5.1.135
DA - 2006-01-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/mit-press/comments-and-discussion-1DiLpooDMb
SP - 135
EP - 141
VL - 5
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -