Returns to scale to family size — who gains from high fertility?

Summary

In this paper the hypothesis put forward by J. C. Caldwell in a number of recent articles, including one in this journal is tested, that there are social and economic increasing returns to scale to family size. Using two village samples of household data collected in Bangladesh in 1977, it is shown that there is a statistically significant inverse correlation between adjusted consumption of rice per head and family size. This result holds true when age and size of landholding are taken into account. From this, it is concluded that the hypothesis is not empirically supported by the data from Bangladesh. This result is partially explained by the extreme poverty of the region and the fact that women are exploited in Bangladesh society.

The authors wish to express their thanks to J. C. Caldwell for his comments on an earlier version without implying that he agrees with everything written here. Acknowledgement must also be made to Monowar Hossain, Director of the Rural Studies Project, to Ahmed Kamal the field supervisor and to the data collectors: A. Hakim, A. Islam, E. Hug, S. Pathan, H. Hug, H. Akther, R. Ara, K. Majumdar, N. Talukdar and R. Begum. To all of them go our sincere thanks.

The authors wish to express their thanks to J. C. Caldwell for his comments on an earlier version without implying that he agrees with everything written here. Acknowledgement must also be made to Monowar Hossain, Director of the Rural Studies Project, to Ahmed Kamal the field supervisor and to the data collectors: A. Hakim, A. Islam, E. Hug, S. Pathan, H. Hug, H. Akther, R. Ara, K. Majumdar, N. Talukdar and R. Begum. To all of them go our sincere thanks.

Notes

The authors wish to express their thanks to J. C. Caldwell for his comments on an earlier version without implying that he agrees with everything written here. Acknowledgement must also be made to Monowar Hossain, Director of the Rural Studies Project, to Ahmed Kamal the field supervisor and to the data collectors: A. Hakim, A. Islam, E. Hug, S. Pathan, H. Hug, H. Akther, R. Ara, K. Majumdar, N. Talukdar and R. Begum. To all of them go our sincere thanks.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

S. Mahmud

Research Demographer at the Bangladesh Institute for Development Studies.

J. P. Mcintosh

Visiting Scholar, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, 1978-79. Department of Economics, University of Essex.