Exports, Entrepreneurs, and Equity: A Solution to the Problems of Population and Poverty in Southeast Asia?

Sustained fertility decline even in urban areas is problematic at best unless urban living conditions vastly improve within the next decade or two. During the colonial period, mortality control unaccompanied by fertility reduction produced gluts of unassimilable population in traditional rural communities, with resultant land pressures, underemployment, and income declines. As population pressures decline in rural areas, mechanization and increased production become possible. To the population theorist, the important by-product of mobility achieved is fertility decline; to the development economist, the primary gain is seen in the production of exports leading to expanded trade and eventual socioeconomic equity. Crop diversification permits production of food and fiber for industrial processing, so that backward linkages are established between agriculture and export-oriented industry. The "Western" sides of the central business districts of all Philippine provincial cities are aglitter with displays of locally manufactured appliances, hardware, furniture, farm equipment, and motor vehicles.