“When people don't have the number of kids they want to have, they're sadder as they get older. … The real burden of low fertility in the long run is not a budget math problem. It's a heart math problem.”
sputnikintelligence.com
Dubner asked whether not having the children you wanted really leaves people unhappier later in life. Stone points to long-running surveys and outcomes after failed IVF, and argues the real cost of low fertility is emotional, not fiscal.
…have. And they spend the last 40 years of their life, because life expectancy is going up, basically miserable and unattached from the next generation, feeling like they don't care about what's coming next and that they only really need society to live long enough to pay for their Social Security.
Do you really feel that not having your own children will make you miserable and unattached from the next generation?
…antipsychotics or something. Whereas people with failed or long-delayed IVF success have these huge increases in the use of mental health services and prescriptions. That tells us that not having kids you want to have makes you quite sad. It's quite unfortunate. It usually is a story of miscarriage, infertility, disappointment, broken relationships, things like that. And all of that, to me, says the real burden of low fertility in the long run is not a budget math problem. It's a heart math problem.
Coming up after the break, the budget math matters too. I'm Stephen Dubner. This is Freakonomics Radio. We'll be right back. Freakonomics Radio is sponsored by Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile took what's wrong with wireless and made it right with premium wireless for $15 a month. Choose from three, six…
A lot of the exploration I've done has basically led me to rule out potential explanations.
That, again, is the economist Melissa Kearney.