Research and Information Strategies To Improve Population Policy in Less Developed Countries.

Public policies could speed economic and demographic development by altering environmental factors that influence how individuals allocate their time and other resources among various market and nonmarket activities. However, the causal influence of specific environmental factors is largely unknown because of (1) the failure of common conceptual models and statistical techniques to identify the quantitatively important links among different forms of family behavior, and (2) the inadequacy of available data. To remedy the first lack, this report proposes eleven hypotheses concerning the effects of policy-influenced environmental factors on interdependent aspects of family behavior and discusses appropriate statistical techniques for testing the hypotheses. Regarding the second problem, inadequate data, the study formulates specific properties of, and a household survey questionnaire for obtaining, data needed to investigate these hypotheses and thereby improve our understanding of the effects of specific public policies on family behavior. 93 pp. Bibliog.