51–60 of 114 posts
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It's not only about gathering taxes. It's also about having someone to wipe your ass once you're too frail to do it yourself.
Conceiving a child so they can wipe my ass sounds selfish
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In the US it really seems to be. I don’t even understand how my American friends can have kids - daycare is so expensive it makes more sense for one parent to just stay home. In Canada, children are already much more affordable (esp. in Quebec). In Europe even more so. Once education, health care and day care are affordable (or free), children are not astronomically exoensive.
If you compare the total fertility rates in Canada and Europe (~1.5), even with their pro natalist policies, America still has a higher fertility rate (~1.7) with abysmal support for parents. Likely attributable to families that opt out of paid formal child care, and Medicaid picks up the slack for those below middle class means.
Children are astronomically expensive. Most working class and middle class parents cannot envision affording a second child so they have just one.
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It's not only about gathering taxes. It's also about having someone to wipe your ass once you're too frail to do it yourself.
Conceiving a child so they can wipe my ass sounds selfish
Children are astronomically expensive. Most working class and middle class parents cannot envision affording a second child so they have just one.
Economic incentives are never going to really work well in improving fertility rates. If you look at the data in the US, the biggest predictor of fertility is religion, with religious people in the US having 2-3x more kids than non religious people. Most of the decline in birthrate within both western Europe and the US can be traced to increasing drops in religion.
I would debate this conclusion. The drop in people observing organised religions over the last 40 years also correlates with many other things.
Off the top of my head: Increase in the cost of education Increase in the cost of housing relative to income Increased use of pesticides and artificial colours/flavours/sweeteners Increased global connectivity Greater average life expectancy Lower taxation on the rich
And I’m sure there are many more. Determining which of these, if any, cause the lowered birth rate would take years of study.
Economic incentives are never going to really work well in improving fertility rates. If you look at the data in the US, the biggest predictor of fertility is religion, with religious people in the US having 2-3x more kids than non religious people. Most of the decline in birthrate within both western Europe and the US can be traced to increasing drops in religion.
From what I've read, the biggest predictor is girls education, but this is not incompatible.
The reason why the effect of education in the US is weaker (compared to third world countries) is probably because we require 12 years for all students.
People will talk all day about adopting a pet, but adopting a child is off the table.
There are already millions of children on this planet that desperately need parents, your biological desire to procreate shouldn't supersede that.
Children are astronomically expensive. Most working class and middle class parents cannot envision affording a second child so they have just one.
I watch low-income multi-child parents pay for groceries and formula w/EBT and WIC vouchers on the daily. Children are subsidized by the government, it's definitely not cost-prohibitive.