Name: Taylor Schermer Period: 3

Math 3 POW: 1
Problem Statement (Introduction)

How does population growth affect the economy?

Process (Content)
Economy is, “​the wealth and resources of a country or region, especially in terms of the 
production and consumption of goods and services,” (​Definition of Economy). ​What will happen 
to the economy when population growth increases and how does the change in population 
growth affect the economy.​ Surprisingly, the answer is different for different countries with
different economic situations. In high-income countries, “low population growth … is likely to
create social and economic problems.” (Peterson, E. Wesley F.) With not enough people to
support the older generation the economy falls.
Although low population growth is found to be
detrimental to high-income countries, many
high-income countries tend to have reduced
population growth due to the cost of living. Contrary
to high-income countries, in low-income countries,
“high population growth … may slow their
development.” (Peterson, E. Wesley F) These
countries already don’t have a strong economy; “if
developing countries want to increase their rate of
growth of per capita GDP relative to the developed
nations, they must limit their population growth.”
What is per capita GDP and how does it relate to the
economy? Per capita GDP is an assessment of the
output of a country’s economy and it is a valuable
gauge of the performance of the country’s economy, so good economies have a high GDP and
bad economies had a low GDP. High population growth lowers low-income countries' GDP,
lowering the economy. Low-income countries are found to have some of the highest birth rates
due to high death rates causing the population to grow. Economically developing countries that
are transitioning from low-income to high-income experience an interesting change in population
development called demographic translation. Demographic translation occurs when the
economy becomes stable enough to create safety and, ” population growth rises with a fall in
death rates and then falls with a reduction in birth rates,” (​Population Growth and Economic
Development)​ as the cost of living increases. When the population grows the economies of
high-income countries will thrive and the economies of low-income countries will die, but
inevitably resources will run out, so how do we prevent overpopulation with the economy? Some
say a solution could be migration. Migration could equal out the economies and slowly decrease

Julian Springer Math 3

Name: Taylor Schermer Period: 3

the rate of population growth. How realistic is this solution? Not too realistic given the political
climate in different countries. Population growth will continue to change the economy, but how
will we slow population growth before it’s too late?

Solution (Summary)
Population Growth will negatively affect low-income countries and positively affect
high-income countries, but there won’t be enough resources to sustain the population growth.
How do we limit population growth while creating stronger economies?

Reflection (Conclusion)
I think that my topic was relevant because it is important to have a stable economy and
studying how population growth affects the economy tells us the future of our economy.
Overpopulation will be a problem for all countries and learning how to slow population growth in
developing countries while maintaining a large enough population to support high-income
countries will be the key to our success as a species. All my sources are relevant academic
articles published by scholars that are credible. This POW opened my eyes to the reality of how
important migration is and the need for stable economies for low-income countries to ensure
their future. While creating this POW one Habit of a Mathematician that I utilized was generating
ideas. I had to formulate a plan when constructing my paper to determine important information
and less important information to use to strengthen my answer to how the change in population
relates to the economy.

Extension Question

Is there a reasonable way to slow population growth while maintaining and creating economic
strength?

Problem  (1) The problem is restated with (.5) The author uses multiple (0) No meaningful
Statement  one sentence in their own sentences and either copies language Problem Statement
words showing a clear from the POW or states a different is given.
understand of the final objective.
objective.

Process  (4) The author makes their (3) The author makes an attempt to (2-1) Diagrams are
process very clear through the explain their process, but some of their non-existent or don’t
use of diagrams, graphs, work is unjustified or not clearly have explanations.
formulas, etc. All figures are explained. Some work is not
described and annotated and all shown.
arithmetic is explained/justified..

Solution/  (3) Correct solution in context of (2) Solution is incorrect, incomplete, or (1) No solution and/

Julian Springer Math 3

Name: Taylor Schermer Period: 3

Reflection  the problem. Reflection improperly interpreted. Reflection or no reflection.

statements tell us something does not address the student’s
about what the author got from process.
the POW.

Extension  (2) The extension question is (1) Extension question simplifies the (0) No extension
Question  creative and thought-provoking, underlying math or leaves it the same question
involving a tweak to the by just changing the numbers
underlying mathematics

Self-grade: 10 / 10 Total Score: ________ / 10

Works Cited

Population Growth and Economic Development​,

saylordotorg.github.io/text_principles-of-economics-v2.0/s36-02-population-growth-and-ec

onomic.html.

“Is Population Growth Good or Bad for Economic Development? - IGC Blog.” ​IGC​, 23 Mar.

2017, www.theigc.org/blog/is-population-growth-good-or-bad-for-economic-development/.

Peterson, E. Wesley F. “The Role of Population in Economic Growth - E. Wesley F. Peterson,

2017.” ​SAGE Journals​, journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244017736094.

Preston, S H, and P Donaldson. “Population Growth and Economic Development.” ​Asia-Pacific

Population Journal​, U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 1986,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12340773.

“Economy: Definition of Economy by Lexico.” ​Lexico Dictionaries | English​, Lexico Dictionaries,

www.lexico.com/en/definition/economy.

Julian Springer Math 3