Some Aspects of Anthropological Contributions

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with some of the advantages which might accrue to economic research and policy-making based upon it in the field of fertility behaviour, if more insights, both conceptual and methodological, were drawn from other disciplinary approaches. The particular approaches used here are those of social anthropology or comparative family sociology. These are especially appropriate since economists’ interests in fertility behaviour extend beyond one culture or nation-state and thus require a thoroughly cross-cultural perspective.¹ At the same time, since data bases are admittedly inadequate and funds for collecting relevant new data limited, introduction to a range of flexible and relatively inexpensive techniques of data collection, which may be used to explore issues of special interest or policy-related concern, may help to extend the current range of questions examined by more conventional approaches pursued by economists.