Poverty, Fertility Preferences, and Family Planning Practices in the Philippines

This paper looks at the interaction of poverty, fertility preferences, and family planning practices in the Philippines using the series of nationally representative family planning surveys conducted annually since 1999 augmented by census and other survey data. Its contribution lies in providing recent and nationally representative empirical evidence on the long-running but largely unresolved debate in the country on the relationship between fertility preferences and family planning and socioeconomic status. The paper shows that while the number of children ever born is indeed larger among poorer households, their demand for additional children is actually lower and their contraceptive practice is also poorer. This result indicates that, in the case of the Philippines, the larger number of children among the poor is more the result of poorer contraceptive practice than the higher demand for additional children.poverty, family planning, Philippines, fertility preferences, socioeconomic status

Population and the Fight Against Poverty

Is poverty incidence higher among families with a bigger family size? Is there a cause and effect in the relationship between family size and poverty incidence? Dr. Aniceto Orbeta Jr. believes that indeed, there is. In this Policy Notes, he provides explanations and evidences of three channels--growth, distribution and conversion--through which demographic changes affect poverty outcomes.poverty, population, demographic changes

A Glimpse at the School Dropout Problem

Dropout is a problem for many reasons. One, at the aggregate economy level wherein education is known to be an important determinant of economic growth, premature dropout means loss of potential productivity. And two, within the education sector, dropout raises the cost of achieving a targeted proportion of the population having some level of schooling. The other area where dropout is a problem--and perhaps the more important one--is from the equity perspective. Dropouts may appear small in number but they are preponderant among the poor which thereupon turns the wheels of intergenerational transmission of poverty against them. At the personal level, dropping out of school will mean consigning one to a future of low-income trajectory. Given a choice, one will obviously not opt for this.Philippines, school children, child poverty, school dropout

Poverty, Fertility Preferences, and Family Planning Practices in the Philippines

This paper looks at the interaction of poverty, fertility preferences, and family planning practices in the Philippines using the series of nationally representative family planning surveys conducted annually since 1999 augmented by census and other survey data. Its contribution lies in providing recent and nationally representative empirical evidence on the long-running but largely unresolved debate in the country on the relationship between fertility preferences and family planning and socioeconomic status. The paper shows that while the number of children ever born is indeed larger among poorer households, their demand for additional children is actually lower and their contraceptive practice is also poorer. This result indicates that, in the case of the Philippines, the larger number of children among the poor is more the result of poorer contraceptive practice than the higher demand for additional children.poverty, family planning, Philippines, fertility preferences, socioeconomic status

Population and Poverty: A Review of the Links, Evidence and Implications for the Philippines

The article reviews trends in population and poverty, compares population and development between the Philippines and Thailand over the last 40 years, discusses the theoretical links between population and poverty as well as the empirical evidence, and finally its implications for policy. The author emphasizes the primacy of growth as a development strategy in reducing poverty and perhaps inequality, as well as better fertility management--particularly among the poor--aimed at the potential development benefits arising from demography.poverty, population, inequality, demographic changes

The More the Poorer: Why Large Family Size Causes Poverty

What makes a large family more prone to poverty? Why is the poverty incidence invariably higher among households with larger family sizes? This Notes examines three mechanisms that provide answers to these questions, namely, (a) impact of the number of children on the labor force participation and incomes of parents; (b)education of children; and (c) household savings. Read more...poverty, education, Philippines, family size, labor force participation, earnings, household savings

Population-Development-Environment Modeling in the Philippines: A Review

This article surveys existing forecasting models in the Philippines and discusses several promising alternatives in the process of developing a methodological modeling. Investigation of CGE models leads to the findings of the absence of population-environment interactions.natural resources and environment, population and family relation, computable general equilibrium (CGE), environmental issues, econometric modeling

Population-Development-Environment Modeling in the Philippines: A Review

This article surveys existing forecasting models in the Philippines and discusses several promising alternatives in the process of developing a methodological modeling. Investigation of CGE models leads to the findings of the absence of population-environment interactions.natural resources and environment, population and family relation, computable general equilibrium (CGE), environmental issues, econometric modeling

Schooling Disparities: an Early Life Lever for Better (or Worse) Equity in the Future

Why should we be concerned with education disparities? The short answer is that schooling disparities get translated into income and other social disparities. Inequities, in turn, are known to lead to (a) wasted productive potential and inefficient allocation of resources; and (b) impaired institutional development. Even if there are controversies on what determine schooling outcomes, there is almost no question that people with more schooling, on average, have higher future income trajectories. The clear implication is that schooling disparities, whether in quantity or in quality, get translated into disparities in future income trajectories. This difference in productivity is the basis of the human capital theory.Philippines, education disparities, schooling outcomes, social inequity

Impact of Children on Household Savings in the Philippines

Household savings are important indicators of family welfare, not only in terms of a household's investment and income generation prospects, but also, and perhaps more importantly--given pervasive borrowing constraints and limited social security coverage--in terms of its ability to secure protection from income shortfalls. This article examines the relationship between household savings and family size. It also provides descriptive and multivariate evidence on the relationship of household savings and family size. It likewise uses a recent nationally representative household survey in the analysis. The results show that, on average, the impact of additional children on household savings is both negative and regressive.Philippines, family size, household savings