Determinants of reproductive change in a traditional society: evidence from Matlab, Bangladesh
Phillips, J.F.; Simmons, R.; Koenig, M.A.; Chakraborty, J.
Studies in Family Planning 19(6 Pt 1): 313-334
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0039-3665 PMID: 3068840 DOI: 10.2307/1966627Document Number: 313740
A project was launched a decade ago in Matlab, Bangladesh, to test the hypothesis that contraceptive services can induce and sustain fertility decline in a rural traditional population. The demographic impact of this project has been pronounced, lending support to the view that supply-side policies can succeed even where institutional supports for demand are weak. The paper reviews the relationship between the Bangladesh climate of demand and the Matlab system of supply with the aim of explaining how such effects arise. It is shown that a sociologically appropriate system of supply can induce fertility change in a society where such change would not spontaneously arise. The findings suggest that the study of programmes and fertility theory must therefore more formally address the sociology of supply, particularly in such traditional rural societies, with the same degree of rigour accorded to research on the sociology of demand.