Reddit mentions of The Meaning of the 21st Century

It's an interesting and thought provoking piece.

But I don't buy it.

Sweden: Ever the archetypical socialist state, provides free healthcare, ample child support, and free education from age 1 to 20. Its fertility rate is below replacement at 1.67 children/woman.

The Congo: War torn and poor. Extremely limited rule of law. Here there are no social institutions holding a man to his child, yet the fertility rate is a blistering 6.28 children/woman.

Here's a relavent quote from author James Martin:
> There are four stages in the evolution of the role of women that relate to fertility rate: First, when women learn to read and have birth control methods, the fertility rate declines. Second, when women have jobs, the fertility rate drops further. Third, when they become "liberated," it goes down further. Fourth, when women become ambitious and aspire to the most impressive jobs in a society, the fertility rate falls to well below the replacement rate.

The take-away from this is that the way to decrease fertility rates is to increase the education and opportunities of women. When one is highly educated and ambitious - a baby represents a massive opportunity cost.

Basically, I think the author is approaching this problem from the wrong end. The tail wagging the dog, if you will. While his opinions have a certain Darwinian charm, I have the feeling that in practice, it would amount to an effective reduction in the rights of, support for, and social status of poor women. And as such (taking into account the evidence of the world) it would end up having the opposite of the intended effect.