Harvard University anthropologist Dr. Karen L. Kramer will undertake research on how economic transitions affect fertility patterns and children's lives. Subsistence farmers worldwide are experiencing changes in their traditional agrarian systems, becoming less self-sufficient and more dependent on selling their labor. These changes have significant demographic effects: in many populations, fertility rates decline dramatically. However, little is known about how this happens, how much variaibility there might be between households when not all of them prosper in the new economy, and how this affects the health and life quality of children whose labor often underwrote the old economic systems. Kramer's research is designed to answer these questions.
The research will be carried out in the rural Maya village of Xculoc, Campeche, Mexico. The research design takes advantage of the fact that detailed data on labor, economy, health, and demographics were collected in this village in the 1990s. Since that time, the village has begun the process of transitioning from a subsistence agricultural economy to one that is increasingly dependent on wage labor, cash, and the market economy. These extant data will serve as the baseline against which to measure change, determine increases in household variability, and explore the possible causes. The researcher will collect economic, demographic, growth, time allocation and energy expenditure data for 80 households and 390 children under the age of 20.
The project's primary research questions are: 1) What impact does subsistence change have on child quality (growth performance, diet, education, medical intervention and labor)? 2) What is the relationship between household economic characteristics and fertility outcomes? 3) What is the relationship between fertility trends and children's labor contributions? 4) Do parents with few resources or opportunities to improve their children's futures, maintain or even increase family size? While other parents have fewer children and invest more in their health and education?
This research will help social scientists and policy makers to understand why high fertility persists in traditional communities and its relation to economic transitions. Small-scale anthropological studies and individual data offer valuable insight into these demographic processes, which are otherwise masked by national and regional trends. Findings from this resarch will be of interest to organizations interested in understanding the family planning and changing health and economic needs of communities experiencing economic transitions. Funding this research also supports the training of students.
