Yet poorer developing nations have higher birth rates than developed nations. Is it because they have lower expectations for what their children need to live a "good" life, that they just have more hope that things will work out somehow, or that they somehow don't care about these concerns?
The adults pay the "fixed costs" to keep the farm running so each additional child produces more in labor than they consume in resources. They're too poor to hire other adults for labor because they have their own "fixed costs" that are much higher than a child in the family.
Yes, I think the minimally acceptable quality of life is certainly relative.
> that they just have more hope that things will work out somehow
Possibly, if everyone around you is on an upward trajectory, I can see that changing people’s calculus.
> or that they somehow don't care about these concerns?
I think a big factor is how (financially) independent women are and what kind of access to birth control (especially IUDs) they have. I suspect many of the women who have or had 3+ children would not have if they had similar options to those in developed countries today.
You have to reciprocate which is completelt ignored on HN. They do help you with kids and you have to help them with kids, elder care, sick care house fixing amd what not. You also dont get to make that many individualistic decisions either and many people have to accept their decisions made for them.
if I don't provide for my children in America, I enter the legal system.
US is on its way sideways or down for many of its citizens.
The developing world is on its way up.
Even for those with money, self-imposed targets are so high that having children seems like a distraction. Too much work, not enough time.
The second order effects get a bit complicated though...
In developing countries, more likely than not. But there's also the factors that make people choose to use condoms when they become available. Condom availability has no effect without the whole marketing/education/social pressure around why people should use condoms.
I didn't say that. Many, many other things affect the reproductive rate. However the availability of contraception (and other tools for family planning) has a significant and obvious impact on the size of those effects.
As in, when people are able to reliably plan children, they have less of them.