SIMON,JULIAN AND THE POPULATION-GROWTH DEBATE

This note discusses Julian Simon's contribution to the population deba te. While Simon, who died on 8 February 1998, is best known for his ar guments supporting the thesis that the net impact of population growth is positive, his lasting contribution is most likely to be methodolog ical: his championing revisionism in the study of the economic consequ ences of population change by distinguishing direct and indirect effec ts and of short-run and long-run impacts. The note also argues that Si mon does not convincingly provide the mechanisms by which the main lon g-run benefits of population growth occur and notes that the weight of current empirical evidence suggests that a slowing of rapid populatio n growth is likely to be advantageous for development, especially in p oor, agrarian societies.