Family Matters: Marriage, Fertility, and Economic Policy for a Flourishing Society
AAI 2024 Annual Lecture
What does a demographic crisis look like?
How does fertility impact the economy?
Why aren’t young people getting married and having children?
Isn’t the world overpopulated already?
Won’t AI make up the difference for a plummeting population?
What can we do to provide better economic conditions for families?
By Dr. Jesús Fernández-Villaverde
The global fertility crisis is worse than you think. For the first time, humans aren’t producing enough babies to sustain the population. At present rates the human population will peak in around 30 years— then start plummeting.
Economists have long predicted fertility rates would decline as countries become wealthier. But the fall over the past decade has happened faster than anyone predicted in rich, middle-income, and poor countries.
Creating the conditions for large families to flourish is the only way to reverse the trend in fertility rates. If we fail to do so, then the coming demographic winter will be far harsher than anyone cares to admit.
Join us at 4 pm on Tuesday, October 1st for a lecture with UPenn economist Jesús Fernández-Villaverde as we explore what’s at stake for our society when it comes to the marriage and fertility crisis.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-global-fertility-crisis-is-worse-than-you-think/