| Description |
xix, 391 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Summary |
"This book explores contemporary population issues in a historical context. It is a world economic history of demographic change with emphasis on the well-being of the population. Exploring the years since the Middle Ages, this unique book emphasizes the commonality of human experience illustrating how different people, at different times, in varying circumstances, responded to similar economic forces in more of less the same way"-- Provided by publisher. |
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"The Children of Eve is the first single volume book to bring together general material on population issues, as it explores the subject of contemporary population in a historical context. The book presents a world history of economic and demographic change that ranges broadly over time and space, while simultaneously emphasizing the well-being of the population. By choosing a large canvas, the authors stress the commonality of human experience: that different people, at different times, and in varying circumstances have responded to similar economic forces in more or less the same way. The book highlights the formative population history of Europe and North America over the years since the Middle Ages. Asia and the southern hemisphere are also discussed within the text. The authors have written in non-technical language and successfully maintain the difficult balance of addressing complex issues in a style that doesn't over-simplify the subject, whilst upholding an approach that is accessible to general readers and students. Throughout the text, definitions and short explanations of economic and demographic terminology are presented in separate boxes to enhance ease of use, and each chapter concludes with a bibliography and selected readings."-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
pt. I. Initial conditions -- 1. Overview -- Introduction -- Human origins -- The 40000 years to 10000 BC -- The last 12000 years -- A few fundamentals of population growth -- The quality and quantity of life -- The English parson, Thomas Malthus -- Measurement and inference -- Censuses -- Models of human behavior -- 2. The historical setting -- Introduction -- the demographic transition -- Structural transition of the economy -- Long-run changes in economic well-being -- Net replacement -- Dependency and participation -- How does the demographic transition end or does it? -- Variation -- Globalization, macroeconomics and population -- Institutional change and externalities -- pt. II. Growth and dispersal of the human population -- 3. Mortality: the fourth horseman -- What do people die from? -- Infant and child mortality -- The probability of death and life expectancy -- Seasonal pattern of death -- Seasonality and longevity -- Urban mortality -- The mortality transition: crude death rates -- 4. The fertility transition -- The Queen and the Anabaptists -- Strategic choice -- When to marry -- The "never married" -- Illegitimacy -- The seasonal pattern of birth -- Disruptions -- The fertility transition: crude birth rates -- Farms and towns -- 5. Long distance migration -- The migratory instinct -- Migration of the unfree -- Slaves -- Convicts and indentured servants -- Child migrants -- The Atlantic: waves of immigration -- Unbalanced cargoes -- Information and advertising -- Remittances -- Reverse migrations -- Diaspora -- The Chinese -- The Irish -- The Jews -- The barriers go up -- The Walker Thesis, displacement and savings -- Long distance migration -- 6. Regional migration -- Introduction -- The US westward movement and other frontiers -- Urbanization and industrial change -- The rural-urban shift -- Town and farm and the changing economic role of children -- The great Black migration in the US -- Declining regions: dust bowls and Yorkshire coal mines -- Inter-urban migration -- Migration: in the neighborhood -- Scotland and England -- Canada and the USA -- The undocumented -- Convergence -- pt. III. Choices and their consequences -- The changing family -- Introduction -- Courtship and marriage -- Household and family size -- Child labor -- Family connections: networks -- Marital dissolution -- Married women's property -- Poverty: one-parent families and elderly females -- 8. Health and well-being -- Introduction -- Glasgow: then and now -- Morbidity -- Early populations and nutrition -- Birth weights -- The Human Development Index -- Obesity and BMI -- Household space -- Health and hospital care systems -- 9. Macroeconomic effects of the industrial transition -- Introduction -- Shocks and echoes: the baby boom -- Children and the saving shift -- Intergenerational contracts or life cycles: pensions -- The work-leisure choice -- Time spent in household work -- Education and human capital -- 10. Population catastrophes -- The nature of catastrophes -- The Greenland Norse and the Easter Islanders -- North American Native Indians -- Famine -- Plague -- The HIV/AIDS pandemic -- Flu pandemics -- 11. Conclusions. |
| Subject |
Population -- History.
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Population. |
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History. |
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Well-being -- History.
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Well-being. |
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Economic history.
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Economic history. |
| Added Author |
Paterson, Donald G., 1942-
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| ISBN |
9781444336900 paperback |
|
9781444336894 hardback |
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1444336894 hardback |
|
1444336908 paperback |
| Standard No. |
7042223 |
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