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Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

economist.com

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Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#91

Post by giantg2 »

kube-system wrote: post #74
0942v8653 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Newer cars disable the passenger airbag if the weight of the occupant is less than a certain threshold (65 lbs according to https://owners.honda.com/vehicles/information/2018/Civic%20S... ).

The idea is to protect lighter weight occupants who are wearing seatbelts; they're not particularly reliable in the case that someone has yanked the seat belts tight on a car seat that is sitting on the seat bottom. Some quotes from your source: > Placing a forward-facing child seat in the front seat can be hazardous, even with advanced front airbags that automatically turn the passenger’s front airbag off. > WARNING…

"The idea is to protect lighter weight occupants who are wearing seatbelts;"

Not exactly. Lighter weight occupants are not supposed to be in the front seat wearing a seatbelt. The same places you're getting the warnings for not placing child seats in the front seat will also tell you not to put children in the front seat.

They try to plug it as a safety thing as a way to protect ignorant consumers from themselves.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#92

Post by giantg2 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #79
giantg2 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who was that Scottish economist that had a famous quote about something like once the citizens in a democracy realize they have the keys to the treasury they grant themselves services/money?

Economists have enough trouble trying to predict economic behavior, they probably should be more restrained when branching out of their field into predictive political science.

Economists study many things other than "the economy". Quite often they are involved in political or policy studies because many systems act as an economy.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#93

Post by dragonwriter »

giantg2 wrote: post #92
dragonwriter wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economists have enough trouble trying to predict economic behavior, they probably should be more restrained when branching out of their field into predictive political science.

Economists study many things other than "the economy". Quite often they are involved in political or policy studies because many systems act as an economy.

> Economists study many things other than "the economy".

And, even moreso than is already notoriously the case with the economy, their predictions on those many other things tend to be based on conclusions drawn by abstract reasoning from ideologically-motivated assumptions with little empirical basis that are poor predictors of behavior of the real world.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#94

Post by giantg2 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #93
giantg2 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economists study many things other than "the economy". Quite often they are involved in political or policy studies because many systems act as an economy.

> Economists study many things other than "the economy". And, even moreso than is already notoriously the case with the economy, their predictions on those many other things tend to be based on conclusions drawn by abstract reasoning from ideologically-motivated assumptions with little empirical basis that are poor predictors of behavior of the real world.

If that's the way you see it, then who do you look for to data?

Seems like you can't trust anyone if you can't trust your own evaluation of an individual paper based on statistics.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#96

Post by Analemma_ »

blang wrote: post #23
mb7733 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you're thinking of Australia. There are very few (if any?) places in the US with helmet laws for adults.

King county Washington[1]. [1] https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/violence-injury-prev... !

It seems to be very rarely enforced. I ride in Seattle without a helmet all the time and have never had a problem.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#97

Post by GauntletWizard »

gowld wrote: post #28
kube-system wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was young, this was what minivans were for: families with three kids.

Minivans seat 7-8, which is 6 kids.

In practice, Minivans seat 7 - Two adults, three of your own kids, and two of the neighbors.

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#98

Post by motohagiography »

Lacking an Economist subscription, is it due to a game theory explanation for how above a certain survival or wealth probability threshold, human societies switch from r-selection to K-selection, or is it just that the overprotected ones genetically select out because they grow up to be unattractive?

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#99

Post by organsnyder »

anonAndOn wrote: post #42
kube-system wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was young, this was what minivans were for: families with three kids.

Minivans are only un-cool until you are forced to appreciate their practicality. They can transport groups of kids and all their gear, a bunch of dogs, a surprising amount of furniture or even large sheets of lumber or drywall. I would only consider replacing my minivan with an electric minivan.

Not full electric, but we've been loving our Pacifica PHEV. You do sacrifice a bit of practicality—no towing capability, and the middle seats don't fold into the floor like the gas version (the battery is down there)—but in the summer we sometimes go months without refueling.

I fully concur on the practicality. The only vehicle more versatile than a minivan is full-size van (my family's conversion van growing up was insanely useful).

Re: Child-safety laws may reduce the birth rate

#100

Post by [deleted] »

testfoobar wrote: post #33

The reality for a lot of families is that having children is frighteningly expensive. The twin costs of childcare and a reduction in parental work hours (often mom's) and as a result future career and income advancement potential can be substantial drag on a family's income. Each additional child just prolongs this drag. Multigenerational households where grandparents provide childcare are one solution around this pr…

[deleted]
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