The ProgressDecades of Policy, A Paucity of Progress
Faced with existential demographic collapse, governments across the political spectrum have poured staggering sums—often exceeding their entire defense budgets—into lifting fertility rates back to the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, the minimum required for a sustainable population. After decades of effort, every such campaign has failed to reverse the decline.
In op-eds, blogs, interviews, and our forthcoming book The Population Implosion, Fertility Probe will demonstrate that governments themselves are the primary impediment to sustainable societies. We will show why the full arsenal of pronatalist policies — baby bonuses, extended maternity leaves, abortion bans, tax incentives, penalties on contraceptives, IVF subsidies, housing grants, and dozens of similar programs — has failed for decades to raise fertility rates in any meaningful way. With one notable exception — the small subset of women who have additional children primarily to increase welfare benefits — more government subsidies do not produce more babies for society at large.
Governments intent on reversing the decline will need to accept an uncomfortable lesson: When it comes to making babies, less is more. Fertility Probe is here to provide that lesson.
