The mystery isn’t why the birth rate is falling – it’s why anyone has kids at all
Since 2007 the country has rolled from crisis to crisis. Anyone under 35 has never known the good times.
Hasnain says:
UK focused but I think the points generalize.
“If the government is genuinely concerned about the birth rate there are things it could do: make renting more secure, or invest massively in childcare or, hell, even reform planning rules to build enough new family homes. But it has so far chosen not to do those things — chosen, indeed, to raise taxes on the young to protect the interests of the old. This is not an irrational way for a government elected by the grey vote to behave. By the same token, waiting much, much later to have kids is not an irrational way for the under-40s to behave either.
Why is Britain’s fertility rate declining? Gee, I dunno, why does it hurt if you punch yourself in the face?”
Posted on 2022-02-20T06:25:23+0000