Fertility rates have fallen off a cliff throughout the developed world, including here in the United States. But why, exactly?
In a new working paper published through the National Bureau of Economic Research, Melissa S. Kearney and Phillip B. Levine review the basic facts and the most popular theories. They contend there’s been a “broad reordering of adult priorities with parenthood occupying a diminished role,” which in turn likely stems from a “a complex mix of changing norms, evolving economic opportunities and constraints, and broader social and cultural forces.”
While Kearney and Levine’s assessment of the evidence is fair, their vague conclusion doesn’t exactly give policymakers a clear route to fixing the problem. The trendlines are extremely alarming in themselves. The authors show that total fertility rates have fallen by half or so since the 1950s in developed countries ranging from Norway to Canada to Portugal. Women in these places are waiting longer to have children and having fewer children in total.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the Institute for Family Studies
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Robert VerBruggen is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.
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