Warum so wenige Geburten?

For *Economics, Applied*, Hoover Institution Senior Fellow and Director of Research [Steven J. Davis](https://www.hoover.org/profiles/steven-j-davis) speaks with Claudia Goldin, recipient of the 2023 Nobel Prize for Economics and professor of economics at Harvard University. Davis and Goldin discuss the “[The Downside of Fertility](https://www.kansascityfed.org/documents/11192/Downside_of_Fertility.pdf),” Goldin’s paper presented at the policy conference. Goldin explains why fertility rates fell around the world as women gained greater agency in domains like marriage, reproduction, education, and labor markets. When women gain agency, Goldin argues that a “mismatch” between men and women in their expectations about child-rearing responsibilities leads to lower fertility. She also argues that this form of mismatch is more acute in the wake of sustained, rapid economic development, as women pursue newfound opportunities while many men cling to traditional views about marriage and child rearing.

Between the cost of living and the world being a giant bag of dicks, there’s not much incentive to bring a child into this place.