ABSTRACT
The great changes brought about by the Second World War, and the international distribution of productive power which was discussed at the end of Chapter II, should, alike, be looked at against the background or certain fundamental trends in world economic development, of which the most striking are, perhaps, those connected in some way with long-term changes in population. It is therefore appropriate, after the preceding studies of aspects of re-armament and war, and before proceeding to consider some of the more normal aspects of industry and of international trade, to glance at some main tendencies in this field. It is particularly convenient to do so at present because of the availability of the studies and projections of population in Europe and the U.S.S.R. recently made by the Princeton Office of Population Research, and of some admirable studies of rather wider scope which were published in the January 1945 number of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. The present section will therefore be devoted to a consideration of the economic implications of trends at present discernible in the natural growth of population in the main regions of the world, and the succeeding one to an analysis of some past experience and future prospects of international migration.
