[extropy-chat] [SALT] The DEpopulation Problem, this Friday (for forwarding)

[Brian Lee]

>From: Adrian Tymes <wingcat at pacbell.net>
>To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
>Subject: Re: Re: [extropy-chat] [SALT] The DEpopulation Problem,this Friday 
>(for forwarding)
>Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 10:31:09 -0700 (PDT)

>Arguably true, depending on what you call "tax-like".
>Grocerices, daipers, hospital visits, education
>(especially college), et al certainly do increase with
>additional children.  Many who have the resources to
>raise one child well could not raise five to what most
>people consider acceptable quality.  (Not
>simultaneously, anyway.)

It's true that 2 children are more expensive to raise than 1, but the cost 
of two children is not twice that of one. I only speak from theory as I'm 
still raising just one, but it seems that a lot of the initial investments 
(cribs, furniture, expanded home) and recurring costs (healthcare, 
groceries, clothes) don't increase linearly with each new child. Some of 
these incremental costs can be largely or completely offset by tax credits 
(I think 1-2k/child in the US).

>This is not true of all females in the developed world
>- although the opposite end, girls who have children
>while still teenagers themselves, is seen as a social
>problem to be reduced and, hopefully, eventually
>eliminated.

Though not true of all females, I think that the average age of first 
mothers increases as a country becomes more and more developed. The US is a 
bit of an exception because the influx of immigration allows for continued 
growth.

BAL