Totally get that. I’m just not sure that there’s not something more visceral going on with birth rates in affluent societies than government policy can really account for. We didn’t need government policies to incentivize what were significantly higher birth rates in the past. I don’t know that there is any government policy that would n…
Totally get that. I’m just not sure that there’s not something more visceral going on with birth rates in affluent societies than government policy can really account for. We didn’t need government policies to incentivize what were significantly higher birth rates in the past. I don’t know that there is any government policy that would necessarily move the needle on boosting fertility. Again, that is not to say that we shouldn’t have improved family benefits. This is just a topic I find fascinating.
There are definitely other factors pushing and pulling and they may swamp things like parental leave. But if I'm someone without a lot of money and living paycheck to paycheck and I don't have paid parental leave, it certainly would make me think twice about having kids. May not stop me, but it's one more thing in the way.
I think fertility was much higher before mostly because there wasn't much of a choice about it. Contraception wasn't the same, and women were mostly expected to stay home and raise kids. That started to change when effective contraception became widely available and accepted, and women were given more options.
That's huge chances, and small policie changes won't create huge swings. But as long as we're close or below replacement rate, we should eke out every advantage we can, because they will really matter for humanity longer term. It's like the difference between compounding at 2% or 3% or -2% over a century..
Totally get that. I’m just not sure that there’s not something more visceral going on with birth rates in affluent societies than government policy can really account for. We didn’t need government policies to incentivize what were significantly higher birth rates in the past. I don’t know that there is any government policy that would necessarily move the needle on boosting fertility. Again, that is not to say that we shouldn’t have improved family benefits. This is just a topic I find fascinating.
There are definitely other factors pushing and pulling and they may swamp things like parental leave. But if I'm someone without a lot of money and living paycheck to paycheck and I don't have paid parental leave, it certainly would make me think twice about having kids. May not stop me, but it's one more thing in the way.
I think fertility was much higher before mostly because there wasn't much of a choice about it. Contraception wasn't the same, and women were mostly expected to stay home and raise kids. That started to change when effective contraception became widely available and accepted, and women were given more options.
That's huge chances, and small policie changes won't create huge swings. But as long as we're close or below replacement rate, we should eke out every advantage we can, because they will really matter for humanity longer term. It's like the difference between compounding at 2% or 3% or -2% over a century..