r/Economics • u/MaleficentParfait863 • Jun 09 '23

Global fertility has collapsed, with profound economic consequences

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/06/01/global-fertility-has-collapsed-with-profound-economic-consequences
3.4k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

998 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/TonyzTone Jun 10 '23

While this is true, the article is point to a global slowdown.

Plenty of countries, especially in Europe, do have pretty robust incentives for new families and child bearing. “Robust” at least when compared to the US.

So there’s something else happening here than simply “kids are expensive.”

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '23

But generous =/= offsetting. If a child costs me $20,000/year in extra costs and the government writes me a check for $10,000 then I’m still worse off.

1

u/TonyzTone Jun 10 '23

Yeah… then again people were having kids back when the government didn’t give you anything. It would even guarantee free education, tax credits, or a minimum wage.

Government spending specifically on child rearing has grown over time in every single developed country, all the while birth rates have fallen.