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Why low birth rate in the US?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:03 am
by _aussieguy55
Some suggestions
Student debt
No maternity leave
Living at home
High maternal death rate
Re: Why low birth rate in the US?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:13 am
by _honorentheos
Saw an article on this. It had suggested at least part of it was due to a decline in teen pregnancies. So it can't all be bad.
Re: Why low birth rate in the US?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:20 am
by _aussieguy55
Was teen pregnancy rates lower because of available contraception, more sex education?
Re: Why low birth rate in the US?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:22 am
by _honorentheos
Fewer young people who choose to own cars so fewer back seats. I'm pretty sure anyway.
;)
Re: Why low birth rate in the US?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 10:18 am
by _MeDotOrg
honorentheos wrote:Fewer young people who choose to own cars so fewer back seats. I'm pretty sure anyway.
;)
Ah, a 1965 Plymouth Valiant was my personal road to perdition. And asking an Uber driver to drive around the hills for a half an hour gets awkward.
Re: Why low birth rate in the US?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 2:22 pm
by _ajax18
aussieguy55 wrote:Some suggestions
Student debt
No maternity leave
Living at home
High maternal death rate
US citizens have to pay for people from other countries and welfare queens within their own country to have children first through taxation before they get to make choices about whether or not they have enough money left to support a child of their own.
Re: Why low birth rate in the US?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 2:28 pm
by _Res Ipsa
Ajax, is the birthdate among the wealthy higher than that among the poor?
Re: Why low birth rate in the US?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 2:40 pm
by _EAllusion
An interesting thing happened in that the birth rate collapsed in the 2008 recession, which was not unexpected, but never recovered when the economy did, which was less expected.
I think part of it is simply that taking care of children is very hard and alternative entertainment options just keep getting better and better which young people are the most adept at accessing. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the idea of kids is becoming a hassle to more and more people.
Re: Why low birth rate in the US?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 4:04 pm
by _Chap
aussieguy55 wrote:Some suggestions
...
No maternity leave
...
The USA is the only advanced industrialised country that does not guarantee paid maternity leave.
If it is thought to be a national benefit to maintain the age profile of the nation so as to avoid an ageing population - with all the economic disbenefits that will inevitably lead to - there is some reason to think that guaranteed maternity leave is a good way to ensure that women in work are still likely to have children, and hence contribute to the maintenance of a beneficial national age profile.
There are a number of relevant studies, such as
this one (pdf):
Does Maternity Leave Induce Births? Susan L. Averett* and Leslie A. Whittington Southern Economic Journal, 2001, 68(2) 403-417.
Abstract:
Alleviating the tension between the conflicting responsibilities women may face as mothers and as workers is a topic of current policy interest. Expansion of guaranteed maternity leave to all employed women in the United States is suggested as one possible "family-friendly" solution. Controversy surrounding the issue of increased maternity leave centers aroundthe potential cost to firms of widespread access to leave. One specific concern is that the availability of maternity leave will actually increase births among eligible working women. In this paper we use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine the impact of maternity leave on fertility.We explore two possible routes through which maternity leave may influence fertility. We first estimate the impact of desired fertility on the probability of being in a job offering maternity leave. We then estimate the impact of maternity leave and desired fertility on the probability of a birth. We find no evidence that women sort by fertility desires into firms on the basis of theirmaternity leave policy. We do find that the probabilityof a birth increases as a result of maternity leave, and that the fertility effect of maternity leave increases with birth parity.
Re: Why low birth rate in the US?
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 4:59 pm
by _ajax18
The USA is the only advanced industrialised country that does not guarantee paid maternity leave.
Undeveloped countries don't have paid maternity leave. Why doesn't this limit their birth rate?