In a comprehensive review of demographic change in Asia, distinguished Australian demographer Peter McDonald notes that, sixty years ago, both Japan and India already had policies in place to lower the level of fertility. McDonald cites an influential book of that time by Coale and Hoover which argued that economic development in Asian countries was constrained by high levels of fertility because available capital at both the national and the household level needed to be devoted in large measure to the care and nurture of the 40 per cent of the population under 15 years of age. Fewer children, Coale argued, would make it possible for more productive investment of capital in factories, equipment as well as in the skills and education of people — the essential enablers of economic development. As a larger proportion of the population moved into the workforce and the ‘dependency ratio’ (or the proportion of those not in the workforce) fell, the economy would enjoy a boost to growth through this ‘demographic dividend’.