Mead Cain
Biographic Data
| ID | 3710258 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mead Cain |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mead |
| FAMILY NAME | Cain |
| SIGNATURE | CAIN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Population Council |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 292 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1977 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The Activities of the Elderly in Rural Bangladesh
Despite a mounting interest in the elderly, and a rapidly expanding literature on the subject, there is a dearth of empirical research that can shed light on their condition. For Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia, the record is very thin. With the aid of observed and retrospective data on time-use from a sample of rural Bangladeshis, this paper seeks to help redress this situation by describing the role of the elderly in the household divisio…
Widows, Sons, and Old-Age Security in Rural Maharashtra
Carol Vlassoff has taken issue with me on a number of points in a recent article in this journal.' Vlassoff wishes to argue that sons in South India (and, in all likelihood, in South Asia more generally) are not of great value or importance as sources of security to their parents, be they elderly and/or widowed; and, therefore, reproductive decisions are uninfluenced by security concerns or the expectation that security needs in old age or otherw…
Barriers Broken
Gender and the Household Domain
Preface - Leela Dube PART ONE: THE CULTURAL MATRIX Introduction - Maithreyi Krishnaraj Differential Socialisation of Boys and Girls in Some Lower Castes or Communities of Ahmedabad - Usha Knahere Gender Creation from Birth to Adolescence in Rural Bangladesh - K M A Aziz Seclusion of Women and the Structure of Caste - Kamla Ganesh Family Status-Production Work - Hanna Papanek Women's Contribution to Social Mobility and Class Differentiation Women …
World Population Trends and Their Impact on Economic Development
The History of the Family
Rice, Rupees, and Ritual
Fertility Behaviour in the Context of Development
Institutional Effects on Rural Economic and Demographic Change
Geoffrey McNicoll, Mead Cain, Institutional Effects on Rural Economic and Demographic Change, Population and Development Review, Vol. 15, Supplement: Rural Development and Population: Institutions and Policy (1989), pp. 3-42
Famine in Peasant Societies
Agriculture, Women, and Land
Sex Roles, Population and Development in West Africa
Seven Roles of Women
The Rice Economies
Risk and Fertility
This paper is a reply to a critique of a previous article by Mead Cain on the effects on fertility of economic risk such as is experienced in poor countries. The critique appears in the same issue as this reply. Fertility does not vary systematically because of the security motive in an area as poor as rural Bangladesh where even relatively prosperous households are in danger of material loss. The author finds Robinsons interpretation of the risk…
Women's status and fertility in developing countries
The relationship between women's status, which is defined in terms of the degree to which they are economically dependent on men, and fertility in developing countries is examined. The paper adopts a particular theoretical perspective regarding fertility determinants and explores the implications of women's status within that context. This perspectives gives special attention to the value of children as security assets in settings where public we…
Landholding and Fertility
progress lies in simply adding more variables to a regression equation or shifting statistical analysis to a higher level of aggregation. What I did mean, and this should be clear from a reading of the paper, is that before one seriously entertains the land-labour demand or land-security hypotheses, one should conduct certain thought experiments that will help determine the plausibility of these hypotheses in particular societies. These experimen…
Himalayan Households
A comprehensive study of the cultural ecology, demography, and domestic organization of one village undergoing socioeconomic changes, the Tamang community of Timling
The Consequences of Reproductive Failure
This paper examines the proposition that the economic mobility of persons in rural South Asia is affected by their reproductive outcomes: specifically, that reproductive failure (defined as the failure to rear a surviving son) entails material loss. Underlying this proposition is the notion that sons in this setting constitute an important source of insurance against the risk of income insufficiency in old age and in a variety of other contingenc…
Fertility in Developing Countries
The contributing authors to this collection presented both theoretical essays and empirical studies. These contributions when taken together provide a broad perspective on the current status of research on the factors which influence fertility in developing countries. Particular attention is focused on microeconomic models of fertility and their relevancy for understanding reproductive behavior is evaluated. Both the consequences and the determin…
Landlessness in India and Bangladesh
Fertility as an Adjustment to Risk
Risk and Insurance
Relative to other approaches and emphases -- the value of childrens labor for example -- the potential importance of environmentally and socially determined risk as a source of derived demand for children in poor agrarian settings has been largely overlooked. Using frequency of distress sale of land as an indicator of the adequacy of insurance mechanisms this article compares sources of risk and means of insurance in rural Bangladesh (represented…
Risk, Fertility, and Family Planning in a Bangladesh Village
Brief account of the effects of a countrywide drought on a village in Mymensingh District, Bangladesh, where the author did extensive fieldwork. The link between economic risk and reproductive behavior is discussed in this context, and some difficulties encountered in implementing the national family planning program in the area are described
Class, Patriarchy, and Women's Work in Bangladesh
Class, Patriarchy, and Women's Work in Bangladesh
The Economic Activities of Children in a Village in Bangladesh
From the perspective of parents in many parts of the developing world, high fertility and large numbers of surviving children may be economically rational propositions. An important consideration with respect to the micro implications of high fertility is the economic roles and productive contributions of children during the period when they are members of their parents' household and their output is controlled by parents. Preliminary findings fr…
Risk and Insurance
Relative to other approaches and emphases -- the value of childrens labor for example -- the potential importance of environmentally and socially determined risk as a source of derived demand for children in poor agrarian settings has been largely overlooked. Using frequency of distress sale of land as an indicator of the adequacy of insurance mechanisms this article compares sources of risk and means of insurance in rural Bangladesh (represented…
Fertility as an Adjustment to Risk
The Household Life Cycle and Economic Mobility in Rural Bangladesh
In rural Bangladesh domestic organization is patriarchal ownership of land is concentrated among men and inheritance customs and laws favor sons. Sons establish their new households soon after marriage usually about 28 and they then assume independent authority while usually being given right to a portion of their fathers land. A household cycle ends at the death of the patriach in each household. Household expansion is achieved through reproduct…
The Consequences of Reproductive Failure
This paper examines the proposition that the economic mobility of persons in rural South Asia is affected by their reproductive outcomes: specifically, that reproductive failure (defined as the failure to rear a surviving son) entails material loss. Underlying this proposition is the notion that sons in this setting constitute an important source of insurance against the risk of income insufficiency in old age and in a variety of other contingenc…
Widows, Sons, and Old-Age Security in Rural Maharashtra
Carol Vlassoff has taken issue with me on a number of points in a recent article in this journal.' Vlassoff wishes to argue that sons in South India (and, in all likelihood, in South Asia more generally) are not of great value or importance as sources of security to their parents, be they elderly and/or widowed; and, therefore, reproductive decisions are uninfluenced by security concerns or the expectation that security needs in old age or otherw…
Risk, Fertility, and Family Planning in a Bangladesh Village
Brief account of the effects of a countrywide drought on a village in Mymensingh District, Bangladesh, where the author did extensive fieldwork. The link between economic risk and reproductive behavior is discussed in this context, and some difficulties encountered in implementing the national family planning program in the area are described
Landholding and Fertility
progress lies in simply adding more variables to a regression equation or shifting statistical analysis to a higher level of aggregation. What I did mean, and this should be clear from a reading of the paper, is that before one seriously entertains the land-labour demand or land-security hypotheses, one should conduct certain thought experiments that will help determine the plausibility of these hypotheses in particular societies. These experimen…
Institutional Effects on Rural Economic and Demographic Change
Geoffrey McNicoll, Mead Cain, Institutional Effects on Rural Economic and Demographic Change, Population and Development Review, Vol. 15, Supplement: Rural Development and Population: Institutions and Policy (1989), pp. 3-42
Risk and Fertility
This paper is a reply to a critique of a previous article by Mead Cain on the effects on fertility of economic risk such as is experienced in poor countries. The critique appears in the same issue as this reply. Fertility does not vary systematically because of the security motive in an area as poor as rural Bangladesh where even relatively prosperous households are in danger of material loss. The author finds Robinsons interpretation of the risk…
The Activities of the Elderly in Rural Bangladesh
Despite a mounting interest in the elderly, and a rapidly expanding literature on the subject, there is a dearth of empirical research that can shed light on their condition. For Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia, the record is very thin. With the aid of observed and retrospective data on time-use from a sample of rural Bangladeshis, this paper seeks to help redress this situation by describing the role of the elderly in the household divisio…
Women's status and fertility in developing countries
The relationship between women's status, which is defined in terms of the degree to which they are economically dependent on men, and fertility in developing countries is examined. The paper adopts a particular theoretical perspective regarding fertility determinants and explores the implications of women's status within that context. This perspectives gives special attention to the value of children as security assets in settings where public we…
The Economic Activities of Children in a Village in Bangladesh
From the perspective of parents in many parts of the developing world, high fertility and large numbers of surviving children may be economically rational propositions. An important consideration with respect to the micro implications of high fertility is the economic roles and productive contributions of children during the period when they are members of their parents' household and their output is controlled by parents. Preliminary findings fr…
The Household Life Cycle and Economic Mobility in Rural Bangladesh
In rural Bangladesh domestic organization is patriarchal ownership of land is concentrated among men and inheritance customs and laws favor sons. Sons establish their new households soon after marriage usually about 28 and they then assume independent authority while usually being given right to a portion of their fathers land. A household cycle ends at the death of the patriach in each household. Household expansion is achieved through reproduct…
Class, Patriarchy, and Women's Work in Bangladesh
Risk, Fertility, and Family Planning in a Bangladesh Village
Brief account of the effects of a countrywide drought on a village in Mymensingh District, Bangladesh, where the author did extensive fieldwork. The link between economic risk and reproductive behavior is discussed in this context, and some difficulties encountered in implementing the national family planning program in the area are described
Risk and Insurance
Relative to other approaches and emphases -- the value of childrens labor for example -- the potential importance of environmentally and socially determined risk as a source of derived demand for children in poor agrarian settings has been largely overlooked. Using frequency of distress sale of land as an indicator of the adequacy of insurance mechanisms this article compares sources of risk and means of insurance in rural Bangladesh (represented…
Landlessness in India and Bangladesh
Fertility as an Adjustment to Risk
Fertility in Developing Countries
The contributing authors to this collection presented both theoretical essays and empirical studies. These contributions when taken together provide a broad perspective on the current status of research on the factors which influence fertility in developing countries. Particular attention is focused on microeconomic models of fertility and their relevancy for understanding reproductive behavior is evaluated. Both the consequences and the determin…
Risk and Fertility
This paper is a reply to a critique of a previous article by Mead Cain on the effects on fertility of economic risk such as is experienced in poor countries. The critique appears in the same issue as this reply. Fertility does not vary systematically because of the security motive in an area as poor as rural Bangladesh where even relatively prosperous households are in danger of material loss. The author finds Robinsons interpretation of the risk…
Women's status and fertility in developing countries
The relationship between women's status, which is defined in terms of the degree to which they are economically dependent on men, and fertility in developing countries is examined. The paper adopts a particular theoretical perspective regarding fertility determinants and explores the implications of women's status within that context. This perspectives gives special attention to the value of children as security assets in settings where public we…
Landholding and Fertility
progress lies in simply adding more variables to a regression equation or shifting statistical analysis to a higher level of aggregation. What I did mean, and this should be clear from a reading of the paper, is that before one seriously entertains the land-labour demand or land-security hypotheses, one should conduct certain thought experiments that will help determine the plausibility of these hypotheses in particular societies. These experimen…
Himalayan Households
A comprehensive study of the cultural ecology, demography, and domestic organization of one village undergoing socioeconomic changes, the Tamang community of Timling
The Consequences of Reproductive Failure
This paper examines the proposition that the economic mobility of persons in rural South Asia is affected by their reproductive outcomes: specifically, that reproductive failure (defined as the failure to rear a surviving son) entails material loss. Underlying this proposition is the notion that sons in this setting constitute an important source of insurance against the risk of income insufficiency in old age and in a variety of other contingenc…
The Rice Economies
Agriculture, Women, and Land
Sex Roles, Population and Development in West Africa
Seven Roles of Women
Institutional Effects on Rural Economic and Demographic Change
Geoffrey McNicoll, Mead Cain, Institutional Effects on Rural Economic and Demographic Change, Population and Development Review, Vol. 15, Supplement: Rural Development and Population: Institutions and Policy (1989), pp. 3-42
Famine in Peasant Societies
World Population Trends and Their Impact on Economic Development
The History of the Family
Rice, Rupees, and Ritual
Fertility Behaviour in the Context of Development
The Activities of the Elderly in Rural Bangladesh
Despite a mounting interest in the elderly, and a rapidly expanding literature on the subject, there is a dearth of empirical research that can shed light on their condition. For Bangladesh and the rest of South Asia, the record is very thin. With the aid of observed and retrospective data on time-use from a sample of rural Bangladeshis, this paper seeks to help redress this situation by describing the role of the elderly in the household divisio…
Widows, Sons, and Old-Age Security in Rural Maharashtra
Carol Vlassoff has taken issue with me on a number of points in a recent article in this journal.' Vlassoff wishes to argue that sons in South India (and, in all likelihood, in South Asia more generally) are not of great value or importance as sources of security to their parents, be they elderly and/or widowed; and, therefore, reproductive decisions are uninfluenced by security concerns or the expectation that security needs in old age or otherw…
Economics (23 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Economic growth (13 works) · Geography (13 works) · Development economics (12 works) · Population (11 works) · Socioeconomics (11 works) · Demography (10 works) · Demographic economics (8 works) · Political science (8 works)