- Email: [email protected]
The ultimate resource
440
REVIEWS
in the cultural dynamics of the Malay, Chinese or Indian communities as in the evolution of the world capitalist economy and the class structure of Malaysian society” (p. xi). Michael Stenson’s work will continue to provide the critical insight that has been lacking so far in the study of Malaysian society. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
JULIAN L. SIMON, The Ultimate Resource (Oxford: Martin Robertson. Princeton University Press, 1981. Pp. x+415. c9.50 and $19*00)
A. MANI
Princeton:
In this provocative and entertaining book Julian Simon provides a welcome counterblast to the doomwatch prophets of the 1960s and ’70s. The problems of detiing an optimum population and of assessing the relationships between population growth, resources and economic development are as old as mankind, and their perception varies greatly from one culture to another. As he convincingly demonstrates, neo-Malthusian arguments are too frequently based on assumptions of infinite population growth potential pressing progressively on finite land and resources. Yet, as was strongly argued by the developing world at the 1974 World Population Conference, development is not only essential to improving its quality of life but is also as likely to lead to individually-motivated family planning as will the pressures and propaganda of the international anti-natalist lobby. Simon’s case is strongly grounded in macro-economic theory and in a broad historic view of the course of global population development and its relation to the availability and cost of resources. He argues that resources have always been scarce; that population, while it places demands on those resources and on the environment, is also essential to their fuller development; and that since people produce “more than they consume” they are ‘The Ultimate Resource’. Thus, in economic terms, even rapid population growth need not inevitably lead to scarcity. Nor do people, now as in the past, blindly breed at their biological potential: as many studies in historical demography over the past twenty years have shown, families in many different societies have throughout history made rational choices over parenthood and family. The thrust of the argument is implicit in the layout of the book. Simon begins, not with population, but with the focal economic argument that the real cost of resources has declined in the longer term, despite short-term or local shortages from time to time. The evidence is set out in a series of pithy chapters and supporting appendices covering a whole range of raw materials, energy and food, and the argument is also extended to the problem of environmental impact and pollution. This is then followed by a brief analysis of the course of world population development from which he concludes that, in the long run, uninterrupted exponential growth has not previously characterized demographic trends nor is it likely to do so in the future. Moreover, population has-as Ester Boserup has also recently argued in Population and Technology-a positive contribution to make to technological and economic development: of itself it is neither a deterrent nor a pollutant. Though Simon sets out his argument and his evidence carefully (and both are more fully developed in his previous technical writings), he does not take a neutral stance. His view is a frankly optimistic one-a welcome counterblast to the pessimistic tone and predictions of the majority of recent writing in this field-but his values and assumptions are made abundantly clear. Moreover, in his concluding chapters he is at pains to stress the significance of values in the discussion of this important question. It is a view which has much to commend it. Based on a wide and more flexible approach than most, it is open-minded and without rigid ideas of what is good or bad, right or wrong for people. The assessment is cool, objective and commonsense and is firmly related to a persuasive theoretical framework. Perhaps there is an over-dependence on price as an index of and mechanism for demand/supply relationships. Certainly the
REVIEWS
441
macro-scale view tends to under-state the very real problems of regional population pressures and resource shortages which exist and have existed in the past. While he may infuriate dedicated conservationists and advocates of zero population growth, Simon will probably persuade most readers of the logic and rationality of his arguments. Moreover, he will surely please all with his direct and punchy style. Debunking, but never abrasive, this is a book which is free from cant and self-delusion: a real breath of fresh air in a subject which has often seemed excessively claustrophobic. University of Liverpool
R. LAWTON
Shorter notices JIM FITZPATRICK, The Bicycle and The Bush. Man and Machine in Rural Australia (Mel-
bourne: Oxford University Press, 1980. Pp. 250. qbA40.25) I wondered what to do about this book. I had asked for a review copy and so owed the publisher a review. The subtitle had caught my attention, but I find the book really is about riding around Australia before people could afford cars. There are lots of photos of tough-looking gents, in plus-fours and wide-brimmed hats, pushing two-wheelers across a landscape of mud, brush and eucalypt. The ladies seem to have remained at home-quite sensibly I should think. You can learn from this book that “In October 1898 Pat O’Dea averaged a blistering 103 miles a day from Perth to Adelaide while setting a new trans-Nullarbor record” (p. 177). The photograph shows him to have been handsome, mustachioed, and he rode a Raleigh. Some of the cyclists seem to have raced camels (p. 95). The Methodist minister for Coolgardie, readers will be pleased to learn, “was probably the first clergyman in Australia to use a bicycle to travel around his parish” (p. 170). He, too, is shown in a photo, astride a white-tyred job, wearing what looks like a Nehru jacket against a background of chinoiserie. There is a splendid photo of a couple who appear to be in a state of shock, mounted on a tandem. “Tandem bicycles were almost exclusively used in Australia in higher social circles and for track racing” (p. 70). Surely this is worth more than the price asked? University of Toronto
J. H. GALLOWAY
ERNESTM. LANDER, JR., Reluctant Imperialist. Calhoun, the South Carolinians and the Mexican War (Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1980. Pp.
xiv+180.
$13.95)
Lander examines South Carolina’s participation in the Mexican War between 1846 and 1848, the attitudes expressed in the South Carolina press towards the war, and the political manoeuvres of John C. Calhoun and President James K. Polk. Attention is also devoted to other issues than the political aspects of the war, such as accessibility to newspapers and railroads which was important in raising the volunteer army. There also are good descriptions of the hardships endured by the troops during transport to Mexico and during the war. Climate, disease, poor food and water, and inadequate housing combined with the fighting to raise the casualty rate in the Palmetto Regiment above that of any other state. Three maps concerning military activity are included, but two are ineffective because they are placed inappropriately in the text. Historical geographers interested in the territorial expansion of the United States and antebellum South Carolina will find this well-written book interesting. University of South Carolina
CHARLESF. KOVACIK
REVIEWS
in the cultural dynamics of the Malay, Chinese or Indian communities as in the evolution of the world capitalist economy and the class structure of Malaysian society” (p. xi). Michael Stenson’s work will continue to provide the critical insight that has been lacking so far in the study of Malaysian society. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
JULIAN L. SIMON, The Ultimate Resource (Oxford: Martin Robertson. Princeton University Press, 1981. Pp. x+415. c9.50 and $19*00)
A. MANI
Princeton:
In this provocative and entertaining book Julian Simon provides a welcome counterblast to the doomwatch prophets of the 1960s and ’70s. The problems of detiing an optimum population and of assessing the relationships between population growth, resources and economic development are as old as mankind, and their perception varies greatly from one culture to another. As he convincingly demonstrates, neo-Malthusian arguments are too frequently based on assumptions of infinite population growth potential pressing progressively on finite land and resources. Yet, as was strongly argued by the developing world at the 1974 World Population Conference, development is not only essential to improving its quality of life but is also as likely to lead to individually-motivated family planning as will the pressures and propaganda of the international anti-natalist lobby. Simon’s case is strongly grounded in macro-economic theory and in a broad historic view of the course of global population development and its relation to the availability and cost of resources. He argues that resources have always been scarce; that population, while it places demands on those resources and on the environment, is also essential to their fuller development; and that since people produce “more than they consume” they are ‘The Ultimate Resource’. Thus, in economic terms, even rapid population growth need not inevitably lead to scarcity. Nor do people, now as in the past, blindly breed at their biological potential: as many studies in historical demography over the past twenty years have shown, families in many different societies have throughout history made rational choices over parenthood and family. The thrust of the argument is implicit in the layout of the book. Simon begins, not with population, but with the focal economic argument that the real cost of resources has declined in the longer term, despite short-term or local shortages from time to time. The evidence is set out in a series of pithy chapters and supporting appendices covering a whole range of raw materials, energy and food, and the argument is also extended to the problem of environmental impact and pollution. This is then followed by a brief analysis of the course of world population development from which he concludes that, in the long run, uninterrupted exponential growth has not previously characterized demographic trends nor is it likely to do so in the future. Moreover, population has-as Ester Boserup has also recently argued in Population and Technology-a positive contribution to make to technological and economic development: of itself it is neither a deterrent nor a pollutant. Though Simon sets out his argument and his evidence carefully (and both are more fully developed in his previous technical writings), he does not take a neutral stance. His view is a frankly optimistic one-a welcome counterblast to the pessimistic tone and predictions of the majority of recent writing in this field-but his values and assumptions are made abundantly clear. Moreover, in his concluding chapters he is at pains to stress the significance of values in the discussion of this important question. It is a view which has much to commend it. Based on a wide and more flexible approach than most, it is open-minded and without rigid ideas of what is good or bad, right or wrong for people. The assessment is cool, objective and commonsense and is firmly related to a persuasive theoretical framework. Perhaps there is an over-dependence on price as an index of and mechanism for demand/supply relationships. Certainly the
REVIEWS
441
macro-scale view tends to under-state the very real problems of regional population pressures and resource shortages which exist and have existed in the past. While he may infuriate dedicated conservationists and advocates of zero population growth, Simon will probably persuade most readers of the logic and rationality of his arguments. Moreover, he will surely please all with his direct and punchy style. Debunking, but never abrasive, this is a book which is free from cant and self-delusion: a real breath of fresh air in a subject which has often seemed excessively claustrophobic. University of Liverpool
R. LAWTON
Shorter notices JIM FITZPATRICK, The Bicycle and The Bush. Man and Machine in Rural Australia (Mel-
bourne: Oxford University Press, 1980. Pp. 250. qbA40.25) I wondered what to do about this book. I had asked for a review copy and so owed the publisher a review. The subtitle had caught my attention, but I find the book really is about riding around Australia before people could afford cars. There are lots of photos of tough-looking gents, in plus-fours and wide-brimmed hats, pushing two-wheelers across a landscape of mud, brush and eucalypt. The ladies seem to have remained at home-quite sensibly I should think. You can learn from this book that “In October 1898 Pat O’Dea averaged a blistering 103 miles a day from Perth to Adelaide while setting a new trans-Nullarbor record” (p. 177). The photograph shows him to have been handsome, mustachioed, and he rode a Raleigh. Some of the cyclists seem to have raced camels (p. 95). The Methodist minister for Coolgardie, readers will be pleased to learn, “was probably the first clergyman in Australia to use a bicycle to travel around his parish” (p. 170). He, too, is shown in a photo, astride a white-tyred job, wearing what looks like a Nehru jacket against a background of chinoiserie. There is a splendid photo of a couple who appear to be in a state of shock, mounted on a tandem. “Tandem bicycles were almost exclusively used in Australia in higher social circles and for track racing” (p. 70). Surely this is worth more than the price asked? University of Toronto
J. H. GALLOWAY
ERNESTM. LANDER, JR., Reluctant Imperialist. Calhoun, the South Carolinians and the Mexican War (Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1980. Pp.
xiv+180.
$13.95)
Lander examines South Carolina’s participation in the Mexican War between 1846 and 1848, the attitudes expressed in the South Carolina press towards the war, and the political manoeuvres of John C. Calhoun and President James K. Polk. Attention is also devoted to other issues than the political aspects of the war, such as accessibility to newspapers and railroads which was important in raising the volunteer army. There also are good descriptions of the hardships endured by the troops during transport to Mexico and during the war. Climate, disease, poor food and water, and inadequate housing combined with the fighting to raise the casualty rate in the Palmetto Regiment above that of any other state. Three maps concerning military activity are included, but two are ineffective because they are placed inappropriately in the text. Historical geographers interested in the territorial expansion of the United States and antebellum South Carolina will find this well-written book interesting. University of South Carolina
CHARLESF. KOVACIK