ABSTRACT
It seems intuitively obvious that changes in population size and composition affect local society and economy. More people means more consumers and service users; fewer school-age children and more elders translates into fewer teachers and school rooms on the one hand but more physicians on the other. However, in reality, the association between changes in population and changes in economy and society is neither simple nor mechanistic. Similar demographic changes in different places do not necessarily translate into the same social and economic outcomes. In this chapter, we develop a conceptual framework for examining the association between population dynamics and social and economic changes in rural areas.
