In article ,
Sander Vesik wrote:
(A number of the industrialized countries would already have negative
growth rates, were it not for immigration; a few do anyway.)

And a lot of these don't like it and are trying to reverse the trend, even
if it should come at the expense of reduced productivity...

They're not likely to succeed. The economic pressures to have fewer kids
are major -- in an urbanized, industrialized society, children are a large
net drain on a family's financial resources -- and people with easy access
to effective contraception will mostly opt for small families. Fighting
this takes more than pious pronouncements and tiny cash handouts to parents,
and I don't see those governments taking the sort of drastic measures that
would be needed to have a real effect.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |