Quote:
Originally posted by Spanky
America has never really followed the rest of the world on this. Our birth rates are not as low as the rest of the developed world. However, I think that today we are slightly below the 2.1 parity point but our immigration keeps us on the positive side (reason 3345789 that closing of the border with Mexico would be a bad idea).
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I understand all of that, but it all contradicts Hello's argument. If the safety net causes the birthrate to drop, then you would expect the birthrate to be lower in the late 50s and early 60s than it is now, when the safety net is less solid than it was.
What causes a reduced birthrate? Prosperity is surely one thing -- the knowledge that you don't need lots of kids to support you. But this country has been prosperous for quite some time, and the birthrate has fluctuated substantially during that time. Greater opportunity for women is probably a more significant cause than any other factor -- as women pursue educations and careers, they are less likely to have children, particularly earlier in their lives. If you don't start breeding in your 20s, you are likely to have fewer, or even no, kids.
