Bloom, DavidCanning, DavidMalaney, Pia N.2019-04-221999-05Bloom, David E., David Canning, and Pia N. Malaney. “Demographic Change and Economic Growth in Asia.” CID Working Paper Series 1999.15, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, May 1999.http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:39377553This paper examines the links between demographic change and economic growth in Asia during 1965-90. We show that the overall rate of population growth had little effect on economic growth, but that changes in life expectancy, age structure, and population density have had a significant impact on growth rates. We also find strong evidence of feedback from higher income to population change via lower fertility, though a significant component of the demographic changes appears to have been exogenous. Our results suggest that the demographic transition can act both as a catalyst and as an accelerator mechanism, and that demographic effects can explain most of East Asia’s economic “miracle”. East Asia benefited from a “virtuous spiral” of income growth and fertility decline, while South Asia seems to remain caught in a low-level population-income trap.en-USResearch Paper or Report2019-04-22