Absolute wealth has little effect on people's behavior. Relative wealth is more important. Wealth relative to the people around you, and wealth relative to your

Absolute wealth has little effect on people's behavior. Relative wealth is more important. Wealth relative to the people around you, and wealth relative to your expectations. The average person in their 50s or 60s financially better off than the average person in their 20s or 30s. The average young person can reasonably expect to be wealthier 30 years from now. Therefore many young people feel poor, and they feel they need to be in a better financial position before they can seriously consider having a family. I think the rise of the middle class had a huge impact on birth rates. Ordinary people were no longer living from paycheck to paycheck. Instead, they were capable of building wealth over time. That made young people poor, both relative to the average person and relative to their expectations. And many started seeing family a luxury they could not afford yet.