4 ms·

All the socioeconomic reasons to have children are virtually gone in the first world, leaving only your personal feelings about having children So it’s your pe

All the socioeconomic reasons to have children are virtually gone in the first world, leaving only your personal feelings about having children So it’s your personal feelings about maybe wanting to raise a tiny version of yourself, against all the new social and economic reasons to not have children, of which there are are many. It’s great that Japan is mitigating some of the economic costs to those who want to have children but I doubt it moves the needle.

chaostheory 3y ago
> All the socioeconomic reasons to have children are virtually gone in the first worl Personal socioeconomic reasons are gone, but not societal socioeconomic reasons. We all need children because otherwise there will be no working adults to support entitlement benefits like social security pensions, or socialized healthcare like medicare
- helen___keller 3y ago
  If it actually became a societal priority I’m sure a solution could be found. For example, a sufficiently large lifelong stipend per child for qualifying mothers could be compelling, although politically impossible. Basically paying people to be career parents - meaning, a stipend large enough that it’s not just a backup plan for people who flunked school, but a way to maintain your standard of living and also be a parent. Otherwise just import a ton of people from poor countries to maintain population dynamics. This will work for atleast a few more generations it seems.
  - chaostheory 3y ago
    > If it actually became a societal priority I’m sure a solution could be found. The only known way to mitigate it is through immigration. Canada is the poster child for this strategy since they haven’t been able to naturally replenish their population since the 1970s. The issue is that you’d have to count on other countries not having this problem, and you need a local populace that is educated enough to realize the ongoing need for immigration. (I am not aware of any country with a large portion of citizens who are aware why immigration is needed.) Japan, South Korea, and Italy have been dealing with this problem for over a decade now, and they still have no solution. They have tried all sorts of socioeconomic incentives which haven’t worked because the root of the problem isn’t socioeconomic. The real problem is that as a country industrializes, the less fertile their males become over time. We don’t know the exact cause, but it is affecting our biology when we account for socioeconomic changes like the sexual revolution. This is for all countries now with the exception for Central Africa, so immigration as a tool will no longer be able to fully stop gap the problem like it did in the 20th century.

chaostheory 3y ago

> All the socioeconomic reasons to have children are virtually gone in the first worl Personal socioeconomic reasons are gone, but not societal socioeconomic reasons. We all need children because otherwise there will be no working adults to support entitlement benefits like social security pensions, or socialized healthcare like medicare

helen___keller 3y ago
If it actually became a societal priority I’m sure a solution could be found. For example, a sufficiently large lifelong stipend per child for qualifying mothers could be compelling, although politically impossible. Basically paying people to be career parents - meaning, a stipend large enough that it’s not just a backup plan for people who flunked school, but a way to maintain your standard of living and also be a parent. Otherwise just import a ton of people from poor countries to maintain population dynamics. This will work for atleast a few more generations it seems.
- chaostheory 3y ago
  > If it actually became a societal priority I’m sure a solution could be found. The only known way to mitigate it is through immigration. Canada is the poster child for this strategy since they haven’t been able to naturally replenish their population since the 1970s. The issue is that you’d have to count on other countries not having this problem, and you need a local populace that is educated enough to realize the ongoing need for immigration. (I am not aware of any country with a large portion of citizens who are aware why immigration is needed.) Japan, South Korea, and Italy have been dealing with this problem for over a decade now, and they still have no solution. They have tried all sorts of socioeconomic incentives which haven’t worked because the root of the problem isn’t socioeconomic. The real problem is that as a country industrializes, the less fertile their males become over time. We don’t know the exact cause, but it is affecting our biology when we account for socioeconomic changes like the sexual revolution. This is for all countries now with the exception for Central Africa, so immigration as a tool will no longer be able to fully stop gap the problem like it did in the 20th century.