0-filipinosforlife - economics & development aspects

8/6/2019 0-FilipinosForLife - Economics & Development Aspects

1/23

Economic and

Development Aspectsof the Reproductive

HealthBill


2/23

A. Consumption as one of the main

drivers of the economy: In basic Economics (especially

Macroeconomics), it is taught that the

following variables are, in the general, thedrivers of National Income:


3/23

Emphasis has been given to C (Consumption)

as this refers to the contribution to economicdevelopment of the consuming or spending

public (whether they are citizens of the land or

foreigners contributing to the local economy).

This is the basis of recent pronouncements by: the current Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng

Pilipinas (BSP) and

former Pres. Bill Clinton during his visit to the

Philippines: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/vi

ew/20101113-302959/Clinton-More-babies-a-boon-to-

Filipinos


4/23

One way of showing this

consumption-driven argument for

sustaining a healthy level of

population growth is to show therevenues and income being

contributed to the economy by

sales of consumer products andservices. Some of these data are

shown on the following slides:


5/23


6/23

Filipino babies and children are reliable

CONSUMERS:

1. Milk for babies/children P 95 billion

Bonakid, Promise, Promil

2. Clothes for babies/children- P65 billion

OshKosh, Barbie, SM Childrens wear,

Tinker Bell, Original Cartoon apparel

3. Diapers P100 billion pesos

(Pampers, QQ, Comfort, Huggies, MagicColor, Drypers)

Source: Top 5,000 Companies, Securities and

Exchange Commission, 2010


7/23

1. Marketing Budget for Baby Diapers

Procter & Gamble = P94,275,700 or 2.3 Billion

Pesos yearly

2. Vitamins and healthcare spending P100

million

3. Pre-school P216M + 1 billion

(Ateneo, La Salle, Miriam, Montessori)

5. Gifts, Toys, Accessories P 2 billion

(Toy Kingdom, Toy Express, Geekmatic)

6. DFA e-passport fee P408,000

Source: Top 5,000 Companies, Securities and

Exchange Commission, 2010

Filipino babies and children are

reliable CONSUMERS:


8/23

Filipino babies are future industry

workers

Scientific and engineering progress has been

quantitatively the single most important factor

for growth in the advanced countries."

- Paul Samuelson

The "population explosion" that advocates

claimed coincided with a technologicalexplosion in computers, medicine, flight, space

exploration, the Internet, and energy efficiency.


9/23

B. Human Capital as the critical link

between national programs andsustainable economic development:

In scholarly economic research undertaken

by an economist at Catholic University of

America, it has been shown clearly that

population control policies the world over

have miserably failed to achieve economic

development and protection of theenvironment, which are purportedly the aims

of such population and development

programs.


10/23

(Contd) For decades, increasingly large

amounts of money have been spent on limitingpopulation growth of underdeveloped countries.

Accompanied by verbal calisthenics,

population control has become populationassistance, and birth control has become

reproductive health services. Population

control has, unfortunately, been pursued at the

expense of true womens rights and to thedetriment of real economic growth and social

improvement.


11/23

This reasoning can be summarized

in the following diagram:


12/23

Population Implosion: Such family planning or

reproductive health focus has often been

presented in terms of urgent social responsibility.

Population growth has been seen everywhere as

a threat to prosperity or even survival. Recent

demographic data, however, have clearly shown

that the force of the demographic argument has

not only been lost in Western countries, but has

been totally reversed. Dwindling and aging

populations are now the prospect facing almost

all the developed countries, which show strong

evidence of being technologically developed

societies in rapid human decline.

http://www.cormacburke.or.ke/node/43


13/23

The same scholarly economic research uncovered

the fact that for UNFPA, population assistancemeans population control, HIV/AIDS and

reproductive health, and thatpoverty reduction

translates to a smallerpopulation, as if these

would be the necessary steps for people todevelop. Yet, poor quality health programs and

sanitation are causing a large number of deaths in

developing countries while real economic growth ishampered by lack of access to basic

infrastructures, property rights, and credit, among

others.


14/23

While HIV/AIDS is a serious health problem, especially in

Sub-Saharan Africa, the leading causes of death are stillnot HIV/AIDS but:

cardiovascular diseases (16.7 million per year),

malignant neoplasms (7.1 million per year),

injuries (5.2 million per year),

respiratory infections (3.9 million per year),respiratory diseases (3.7 million per year), and

pre-natal conditions (2.5 million per year).

When looking at infectious diseases:

respiratory infections come first (3.9 million per year),followed by HIV/AIDS (2.8 million per year),

diarrhoeal diseases (1.8 million per year, mainly children),

tuberculosis (1.6 million per year), and

malaria (1.2 million per year).


15/23

(Contd) Infectious diseases are rare, accessible, and

treatable in developed countries and, with theexception of HIV/AIDS, the cost is remarkably low.

The deaths due to maternal conditions are only 540,000

and, in most cases, these deaths could be prevented

with:a simple delivery kit and/or trained personnel [see

medical arguments against the R.H.Bill below].

It is clear that the present channeling of funds is not

addressing either the health needs or the long-termdevelopment needs of developing countries. It rather

sets them for a future and serious problem, an ageing

population with no means orpeople to support them.


16/23

Declining Fertility Rates Worldwide:

An updated video by Economist.comexplains very clearly this phenomenon of

globally declining fertility rates, way below

the replacement rate.


17/23

Demography reveals the hoax of

overpopulation and exposes the truth on the

alarming and near-irreversible consequences

of more than thirty years contraceptive useand intensive campaign in population control

and reduction: a collapsing pension system in

the developed world, the rise of aging

populations unable to be supported by ashrinking young age group, and the fallacy of

linking poverty to population, as the shrinking

world population has not resulted in less

world poverty.

safe.ph


18/23

The truth is that we have to maintain the naturalpopulationpyramidin order for society and mankind itself tosurvive. The natural family has to be maintained andfertility must not be regulated at merely replacement levelsor below, otherwise serious consequences will set in.

safe.ph


19/23

Demographics...Viewing of documentary film Demographic Winter highly recommended:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PjiMDMHGPU


20/23


21/23

Beckers research was fundamental in arguing

for the augmentability ofhuman capital.

Beckers research on human social interactionshas had many implications for the family such

as for the marriage market, divorce, fertility, and

social security. A major focus ofBeckers

research was the impact of higher real wages in

increasing the value of time and therefore the

cost of home production such as childrearing.

As women increase investment in human capital

and enter the work force the opportunity cost of

childcare rises. Additionally, the increased rateof return to education raises the desire to

provide children with formal and costly

education. Coupled together, the impact is to

lower fertility rates.


22/23

Social Securitys Contribution

to the Fertility Crisis Social security schemes around the

developed world are facing a major crisis

due to greater longevity, declining

retirement ages and lo and behold

below-replacement fertility rates.

Problems: (1) disincentives to work ; (2)demographic change results from those

systems.


23/23

Main reason why people used to have largefamilies was that it was economically sound.Sociologists and demographers call it "theold age security motive for fertility."

In the absence of public social securitysystems, families function as a type ofprivate, informal pay-as-you-go insurancemechanism, in which parents look after their

children, and children care for their parents insickness and old age in return.

The decline of fertility in the 20th centuryis a dismal reality.

Social Securitys Contribution to

the Fertility Crisis (Contd)

0-filipinosforlife - economics & development aspects

Documents