Today's Young Couples Have Little Room in their Lives for Babies
April 29, 2025
I worry that people are going to have fewer intergenerational connections than we had in the past. How can that NOT hurt the cultural divide??
Tangle: Would a baby bonus boost the birth rate?, 2025-April-29 by Isaac Saul:
I think there are plenty of good reasons for the government to pursue pro-brith policies, but I don’t think they’ll be effective in encouraging more births — the decreasing fertility rate seems so much deeper than just a financial question.
This is, in my view, primarily a social and cultural issue: Young Americans live different lives than they did 50 years ago, with different goals, different dreams, and different pursuits. Both parents are often focused on their careers, which diasporizes their family and friend village. On top of that, young Americans have growing numbers of peers who don’t want kids so they can be free to travel, socialize, and pursue their careers without limitations. The upshot is that people on the fence about having kids today feel more societal pressure not to than in years past.
We’re going to need to turn those cultural pressures around if we want to meaningfully impact fertility rates.