Classical Foundations of Population Thought (eBook)

Born 1945. Professor of demography (classe exceptionnelle) Université Paris Descartes Training : MA Sociology and MA Economics ( Sorbonne), Diploma Sciences Po (Paris) D.Phil. Oxford, Doctorat es-Lettres (Paris). Chair of the Scientific Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Member of the Strategic comittee at the University level. Director of the Centre Population et Développement (CEPED, Université Paris Descartes, l’INED et l’IRD). 44 full-time teaching and research staff Published 17 books, 62 peer reviewed articles, etc. on international migrations, population theories and doctrines, family and fertility) Founding member of the the Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales. Chief editor of the series Populations (L'Harmattan). Chief editor of Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Change (Springer) Worked as a consultant for UNFPA UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, World Bank, Coopération française, UNESCO. Field experience in several African, Carribean and South-East Asian countries.

Contents 4
1 Interpreting Ideas on Population 7
Population Doctrines and Theories 7
Some Conceptual and Methodological Preambles 8
Contextualisation of Ideas on Population 10
External Coherence and Internal Coherence 13
Annex: The Old Testament and the Sin of Anachronism 15
2 History and Utopia 19
Plato, a Forerunner of Demography? 19
The Demography of the City 20
A Constant Size 20
Plato and His Commentators 22
Inconsistencies and Contradictions 26
Religion and Politics 29
Mathematics and Religion 29
Stationarity Against Democracy 31
Space and Order 35
The Death of Socrates: The City and the Individual 35
Peace in the City: The Distribution of Space 37
Atlantis 39
Moderation and Excess 42
A Totalitarian System? 44
3 There Are No Riches Other Than Men 48
Demographic Interpretations of Jean Bodin 48
The Theory of Absolute Sovereignty and Population 50
Immigration 55
On Censuses 56
Against Sorcery 58
Bodin on Plato and Aristotle 62
4 The Prince and His Population 68
Mercantilism and Populationism 68
About Population 74
The Edicts of February 1556 and November 1666 75
Labour and Employment 78
Combat Poverty 80
Antoine de Montchrétien and Foreigners 83
A National Economic Policy 86
The Kingdom's Self-Sufficiency 87
Raw Materials and Imports 89
Industrialisation and Exports 91
International Trade and the Colonies 93
The Great Trading Companies and the Navy 94
Against Dutch Imperialism 98
Slavery in the West Indies 101
Populating Canada 104
The Decline of Mercantilism: Political and Economic Factors 107
Fénelon: Political Absolutism and Population 107
A Controversial Economic System 112
For Want of Political Arithmetic 115
5 The Political Failure of an Economic Theory 119
The Physiocratic Movement 119
Agriculture and Prosperity 122
The Sterility of Industry and Trade 122
The Net Product 124
The English Example 125
On Population 127
Population, a Dependent Variable 128
Decorative Luxury and Subsistence Luxury 131
Economic Freedom and Population 132
Taxes and Population 134
The Question of Armies 136
A Failure and Its Causes 137
An Unconvincing Strategy for Development 138
The Fear of Famine, a Political Trap 139
Economics and Policy: Fundamental Contradictions 142
6 Towards Demography 146
Population and Political Power 146
The Prince, the Father, the Landlord 148
Reigning over Family and Society 149
Property and Population 151
The Conflict of Interests 153
The Atomistic Principle 153
Arbitrating Interests and Educating the People 156
The Emergence of Individualism 158
Challenging Absolutism 158
Taking Account of the Subject 161
From Homo Oeconomicus to Homo Demographicus 163
Political Economy and Population 163
Malthus 164
Bibliography 166
Index 175