ABSTRACT
To many environmental activists, population growth is public enemy number one. And although there are respected natural resource economists who would disagree, it certainly has some intuitive appeal to say that an ever-growing population will put an ever-growing strain on the world’s resources, making them less and less available; increasing their price or their scarcity. The desire to curb population growth, although it may sound admirable in the abstract, also comes quickly smack up against fiercely held individual beliefs concerning family planning, birth-control, and abortion. Despite the drain on the world’s resources, there does appear to be a case for arguing that a growing population is necessary for continued economic growth and, thus, long-term economic stability. Many natural resource economists maintain that it is impossible to run out of resources and that a growing population is an unallayed boon to any society.
