The Economic Consequences of Population Growth in Malawi

Mulipa, Anita

The Economic Consequences of Population Growth in Malawi

Thesis / Dissertation

2023

Abstract

There is a vast amount of theoretical and empirical literature attempting to establish the impact of population growth on economic growth. Despite the immense amount of research on the topic, there is still no consensus. Malawi presents an interesting case to investigate this issue as it is a small, low-income economy that is experiencing significant population growth. Furthermore, there is no previous economic analysis on the economic impact of population growth in Malawi. This paper, using the ARDL approach to cointegration with World Bank and International Monetary Fund data over the period 1960 to 2021 explores whether the increasing population is beneficial or detrimental to Malawi's economic development. The impacts of investment and total factor productivity on output are also assessed. The results show that increases in population are associated with decreases in GDP per capita in the short run. However, no statistically significant relationship between population and GDP per capita was established in the long run. Furthermore, results indicate that increases in investment are growth endorsing in the short run, while increases in total factor productivity promote growth in both the long run and short run.

Keywords

Economics

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