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This is what I've always heard, but I've also heard that the financial precarity of young people in the west is leading them to have fewer children. Which seems
by Joeboy 3y ago
This is what I've always heard, but I've also heard that the financial precarity of young people in the west is leading them to have fewer children. Which seems mildly contradictory.
- tuatoru 3y agoProspect theory can explain this. If you are precarious now, but expect or hope to be better off in future, you will delay having children. If you don't expect better prospects, then children are the best available investment in your future.
- jessriedel 3y agoThe second thing you've heard is wrong. If you give people resources conditional on them having children (e.g., free child care), they will of course on the margin have slightly more children. But it's a mistake to interpret this as "financial precarity" causing reduced fertility, because if you give them more unconditional money they have fewer children.