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1、Population,Poverty,andtheLocalEnvironmentbyParthaS.DasguptaEditor'sNote:EachfalltheISUBioethicsProgramsponsorsaFallColloquium.OnTuesday25October1994wewerehonoredtowelcometothepodiumProfessorParthaDasgupta,whoisFrankRamseyProfessorofEconomicsatCambridgeUniversity,tospeakabout
2、ethicsandpopulation.AfterspeakingatIowaState,ProfessorDasguptatraveledtoUrbana,Illinois,anddeliveredthelectureattheUniversityofIllinoisbioethicscolloquium.ThelecturehedeliveredonthoseoccasionsbecamethebasisofanarticlelaterprintedinScientificAmericanvol.272,no.2(Feb1995):26-3
3、1.Wearegratefultotheeditorsofthatjournalforpermissiontoreprintthetext.Aswithpolitics,wehavewidelydifferingopinionsaboutpopulationgrowthsthecauseofpovertyandenvironmentaldegradation.Otherswouldpermutetheelementsofthiscausalchain,arguing,forexample,thatpovertyisthecauserathert
4、hantheconsequenceofincreasingnumbers.Yetevenwhenstudyingthesemiaridregionsofsub-SaharanAfricaandtheIndiansubcontinent,economistshavetypicallynotregardedpoverty,populationgrowthandthelocalenvironmentasinterconnected.Inquiryintoeachfactorhasinlargemeasuregonealongitsownnarrowr
5、oute,withdiscussionoftheirinteractionsdominatedbypopularwritings-which,althoughoftenilluminating,areinthemaindescriptiveandnotanalytical. Overthepastseveralyears,though,afewinvestigatorshavestudiedtherelationsbetweentheseingredientsmoreclosely.Ourapproachfusestheoreticalmode
6、lingwithempiricalfindingsdrawnfromanumberofdisciplines,suchasanthropology,demography,ecology,economics,nutritionandpoliticalscience.Focusingonthevastnumbersofsmall,ruralcommunitiesinthepoorestofregionsoftheworld,theworkhasidentifiedcircumstancesinwhichpopulationgrowth,povert
7、y,anddegradationoflocalresourcesoftenfueloneanother.Thecollectedresearchhasshownthatnoneofthethreeelementsdirectlycausestheothertwo;rathereachinfluences,andisinturninfluencedby,theothers.Thisnewperspectivehassignificantimplicationsforpoliciesaimedatimprovinglifeforsomeofthew
8、orld'smostimpoverishedinhabitants.Incontrastwiththisnewperspective,withitsf
