Birth Rate, Income Inequality, and Economic Development in Latin America and the Caribbean Region: A Case of Honduras

• Main Authors: Alfaro, María Gabriela, 艾莉亞
• Other Authors: Su, Yen Pin
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/pqpwu4

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 國際研究英語碩士學位學程(IMPIS) === 106 === ABSTRACT While many studies of economic development examine the effects of demographic factors, few take into account under what conditions certain demographic factors will affect economic development. This thesis aims to fill the empirical gap by focusing on the interactive effect of crude birthrate and income inequality. I argue that the effect of birth rate on economic development is conditional on income inequality. Based on data for 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1960 to 2015, the statistical results demonstrate that a country with a higher birth rate tends to have a much lower level of economic development when that country suffers from serious income inequality. I also conduct a case study of Honduras to demonstrate the mechanism of my theory at the subnational level. The empirical analysis, based on both quantitative and qualitative data, largely support my hypothesis, suggesting that a department tends to be less developed when it has a high birthrate and a high level of income inequality.