Rob Henderson pulls a quote from Nicholas Wade.
South Korea...has spent more than $200 billion since 2006 on programs to reward parenthood, with cash awards for the birth of a baby, parental leave that lasts a year, and subsidized childcare. Nothing has worked.
Reading further on the page brings up an intriguing example of something that recently worked at least once.
I've seen the thing from Georgia before, and have seen people point out it really hints that raising parents status helps immensely. Given this, I saw someone suggest that perhaps South Korea should offer some sort of academic bonus/entrance exam advantage to each child in a family of 3 or more children, and see what that did.
ReplyDeleteI like the approach. Find the status point.
ReplyDeleteInteresting--almost like a third person stepping in as a co-parent. I see the collapse of birthrates at least in part as a rejection by both men and women of the scary idea of being a parent alone in the house with the kids. The loss of extended families hasn't helped, nor has the casual ability to shed either a husband or a wife. And yet, even today, some families manage the old-fashioned ideal of supporting each other and reveling in bringing up children, with an unshakeable lifetime commitment to each other all around.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting take, that what people fear most is single parenthood, which they have seen strenuous examples of (or grew up in). That would make marriage look less attractive right off the bat, drawing children one significant step closer, with the knowledge that widowhood, divorce, difficult children or too many are one step closer as well. All this not quite conscious, but having an effect far in advance, so that all present conditions can be framed in terms of delay. If career or health are going badly, then why take the risk. If career and life in general are going well, why not stick with that until one is "sure."
ReplyDeleteThere's probably a lot to this, given that a good part of the fertility collapse has been due to people not getting married or having kids at all.
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