May 11, 2016
That would seem to be the implication of an article warning about the economic consequences of lower birth rates. The piece notes the falloff in birth rates following the recession and points out that it has not recovered. It presents the prospect of fewer young people as a serious economic problem.
It, of course, is a serious problem if people feel that they are too financially insecure to have children; however, it is difficult to see any obvious economic problems resulting from that decision. A declining population means less pollution, less strain on the infrastructure, and lower priced housing. (Germany is held up as a horror story with its low birth rate. It is worth noting that housing costs have risen much less rapidly in Germany over the last two decades than in the United States.) If our children end up spending a smaller share of their income on housing costs than we do, this is not a problem.
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