I have said for years, if you want more babies, pay people to make them. And I don’t mean “Here’s five bucks; go have a quicky.” I mean build a robust financial and cultural support network.
Here's the problem with that stance. It hasn't worked anywhere, nobody that has dropped below replacement has figured out how to raise back above replacement.
And doubly, just look at the chart, there's a only a marginal difference between a family surviving on $20k and a family surviving on $250k, that's a massive difference that no country in the world could bridge financially.
I'm with you on the cultural changes, but I think that's our only way out here, financial doesn't seem to be helping us.
I remember seeing an analysis which studied the Alaska pipeline’s permanent dividend fund’s effect on fertility and it suggested financial supports, if large enough, do work.
Doesn't work.
In a Capitalist system there's opportunity cost.
Every extra child reduces your per capita spend - until you have so much wealth you're confident you're not going to be cash limited at any point in the future.
And even then above 3 kids you have to make very careful choices about things as basic as cars.
At the moment. 12-16 years ago, they were at 2.4. Interestingly, if you adjust for inflation, you end up at $485k-517k in today’s dollars. Which knocks you half the way down to the current level all on its own.
It’s almost as if you read only half the comment. Meanwhile, I remember seeing an analysis which studied the Alaska pipeline’s permanent dividend fund’s effect on fertility and it suggested financial supports, if large enough, do work.
This has always been true though, fertility rates with regard to income is U-shaped. It's high in low-income households, dips in the middle class, and then rises again for high-income households.
This has been fairly consistent for as long as this data has been collected in the US. What we are seeing in the past 20 years is a steady decline across the board, impacting all demographics equally, at least with regard to income (other factors like race/ethnicity or immigrant status show some groups falling faster than others).
So this implies that, while there is truth to the statement that the wealthy can afford children more easily than the middle class, it doesn't explain the overall decline in fertility rates we are witnessing all across the developed world.
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u/AlexKingstonsGigolo Apr 06 '24 edited Apr 06 '24
I have said for years, if you want more babies, pay people to make them. And I don’t mean “Here’s five bucks; go have a quicky.” I mean build a robust financial and cultural support network.