The relevance of the developing countries to demographic transition theory

Further lessons from the Hungarian experience

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4852293
AutoresMaria Sophia Lengyel Cook (Harvard University Press), Robert Repetto (Harvard University)
Año1982
Volumen36
Número1
Páginas105
Fecha de publicación1982-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPopulation Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0032-4728 • E-ISSN: 1477-4747
EditorialJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2174162
PMID11630794
OpenAlexW4233706290
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas6

In this paper variations in marital fertility and nuptiality in 48 Hungarian provinces over the period 1880–1910 are investigated in order to test competing hypotheses about the soda-economic and cultural sources of the European demographic transition. Models are contructed to compare three explanations: (1) the conventional hypothesis of demographic transition emphasizing infant mortality, urbanization, education and modernization; (2) the recent re-interpretation including cultural and ethnic factors; and (3) an hypothesis drawn from the literature on contemporary demographic transitions which emphasizes poverty and economic inequality. These three models are tested and compared through multivariate statistical analysis, using statistics for four census periods. The results show that neither the conventional model nor the revision explains which cultural and ethnic factors adequately explain differentials and changes in Hungarian fertility during the period of transition. The consideration of economic variables that represent the welfare of the mass of households substantially improves the explanation. Consequently, it is suggested that explanations of demographic transitions during the nineteenth century that omit the influence of economic disparities between households and the economic welfare of low-income households are incomplete

Demographic economics · Demographic transition · Developing country · Economic growth · Economics · Ethnic group · Fertility · Geography · Inequality · Marital status · Modernization theory · Political science · Population · Poverty · Relevance (law) · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Transition (genetics) · Welfare · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Psychology · Rural development and sustainability · Social Policy and Reform Studies