> Was I unclear? I was talking about the migration of
> rural populations to
> towns in the developing world.
[WS:] "But that is NOT what he [John Thornton] is arguing"
What can I say? John says
"Please show me an example of depopulation of the land happening somewhere."
and then John talks about
"James assertion that "Most developing countries are coping with depopulation of the land", a demonstrable false assertion."
And I show that far from being a "demonstrably false assertion" rural depopulation is a big social problem in Korea, China, Mali, Kenya (and I could add Wales, the Lake District etc. etc).
Development economists I know talk about rural depopulation all the time, but if even simple categories are not shared then it makes conversation very painful indeed.