ABSTRACT
The nature of the relationship between population growth and economic development is far from unambiguous. Instead, between 1880 and 1910 fertility fell dramatically in a variety of social settings and under a wide range of social, demographic, and economic conditions. When urban labor markets are unable to absorb the influx of rural migrants, political, social, environmental and economic instability can arise. Policy makers interested in fertility reduction have concluded that raising the status of women within developing societies is essential if they are to be successful in limiting population growth. A number of predictors of women's autonomy are examined in the second stage of the analysis. As a consequence, some of the issues most central to the debate about population growth and economic development are introduced in the following discussion, and some of the ways in which the topics explored in this study might be seen as part of the larger picture are delineated.
