Maggie's Farm

Glenn Reynolds takes a look
at why people in
industrialized countries have fewer babies.

He asserts that, in addition to the cost in money and time, parenthood no longer has the social value that it once had. He does not mention two medical factors: the Pill and the drop in infant mortality.

A quote:

There's also the decline in parental prestige over generations. My mother reports that when she was a newlywed (she was married in 1959) you weren't seen as fully a member of the adult world until you had kids. Nowadays to have kids means something closer to an expulsion from the adult world. People in the suburbs buy SUVs instead of minivans not because they need the four-wheel-drive capabilities, but because the SUVs lack the minivan's close association with low-prestige activities like parenting, and instead provide the aura of high-prestige activities like whitewater kayaking. Why should kayaking be more prestigious than parenting? Because parenting isn't prestigious in our society. If it were, childless people would drive minivans just to partake of the aura.

The piece is here.