Difficulties in assessing pro-natalist population policy programs

Abstract

In 1960 a commission headed by Professor Richard M. Titmuss submitted a blueprint of social policy for the consideration of the government o f Mauritius -then a self-governing British crown colony. The proposals which covered the whole field of social security, health and welfare were dominated by the explicit purpose of slowing down the excessive rate of population growth in the island (see Titmuss & Abel-Smith 1968). Therefore, as was reported, the members of the commission hesitated whether or not to include a family allowance scheme among their suggestions. Their enquiries had shown that there were family needs which obviously could not be met without family assistance. On the other hand, however, they felt that the introduction of such measures could violate the objectives of their program by contributing to the persistence of high level fertility. The report made the following comment (ibid., p.

Social acceptance and demographic effects of population policy in the Netherlands

“…From our review o f these studies we draw four conclusions. It should be taken into account however, that the lack o f (quasi) experimental studies, and, more in general, the lack o f methodological quality o f a number o f the studies narrows the scope o f these conclusions, rendering them rather conjectural (see for similar com ments: Salo, 1980;.…”