MPIDR Working Paper

Developing country growth collapse revisited: demographic influences and regional differences

Abstract

This paper bridges two related, but up to now, unconnected literatures: economic growth stability and population-economic growth. The paper is different from previous population-economic growth analyses by focusing on instability of economic growth in developing countries. This study contributes to a previous paper on the developing country growth collapse by adding important demographic variables. The paper provides an explanation for “new” negative correlations of population and economic growth: because 1960s were a relatively smooth time for economic growth, youth dependency did not seem important; however, during turbulent 1970s and 1980s, countries with falling dependency burdens weathered economic shocks better.