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Demography 369
From a consideration of the new kinds of relationship thus established
between products a new science was born, namely, political economy. But in
the process, man himself disappeared. Henceforth, money was to become the
unit of measurement, and all one had to do was to get enough of it for oneself
in order to realize one’s heart’s desire. But this conception of economy left out
of account the fact that, on the individual plane, man moves in a finite world
and that whatever is seized momentarily thanks to the power of money is only
done by taking it away from others.
A whole new political economy in which men would replace money as the
unit of accountancy remains to be thought out, and here the demographer can
be of considerable aid to the economist. Moreover, it wil be from more than
just a collaboration between these two branches of science alone that the new
political economy wil emerge. W e are only now beginning to hear its first un-
certain utterances.
53. It is in a planned economy that one is better able to understand the r61e
of demography, and so that is the situation in which we shall first place ourselves.
We wil follow the planner in his preparation of an economic and social devel-
opment plan by trying to show the help the demographer wil give him. W e shall
then see how the type of research undertaken by the demographer can also be of
considerable use in a non-planned economy.
54. Economic development is in the first place a question of the production of
goods and services, and it is in view of certain more or less precise production
goals that a country’s economic activity is organized. These goals are fixed in
relation to needs, that is to say, patterns of consumption. The elaboration of
such patterns is a matter for the experts in the various fields. For instance, the
nutrition expert fixes the food patterns, the architect the housing patterns, and
the town-planner the dwelling conditions. These three examples have been
chosen from among a number of others because they represent three specific
classes of consumer goods :
a. goods and services consumed by the individual, or rather, the consumption
patterns of which depend on individual characteristics ;
b. goods and services consumed by the household, and
c. goods and services consumed by the collectivity.
Naturally, each of the above classes includes a greater number of goods and
services than those we have just indicated.
Demographic variables have some influence on the fixing of patterns, but are
not among the most important factors to be considered. It is obvious, however,
that the needs of a collectivity depend on its age composition and also on the
fertility and death rates.’s Similarly, the household consumption of goods and
services depends on the demographic characteristics of the households concern-
ed (their size and composition). Finally, certain individual nutritional needs are
closely related to fertility and mortality rates. But, above all, each average
class for which a consumption pattern is fixed by the expert is, more often than
not, self-designated in relation to demographic characteristics, viz. children,