Economics has nothing to do with birth rates in the very limited sense of money payments being useless in motivating births. But it has everything to do with bringing to life neoliberal subjectivities that are intensely consumerism and narcissistic.
Capital needs fewer people. It needs people who aren’t tied down with obligations. It needs us to be a raging maw of desire whose primary libidinal object is the self. A person who says “I don’t want to have children because they will prevent me from going to the movies whenever I feel like it” privileges unbridled consumerism over any other consideration. This person is concentrated on what she can ingest over what she can create. And yes, at its root, this is a function of the neoliberal economy.
A while ago, we talked about a woman who doesn’t want children because she wants to make shakshuka in the morning instead of tending to a child’s needs. This is an example of the need to ingest being put ahead of the need to bring forth. All she will produce is literal excrement and digital excrement in the form of photos of the shakshuka she’ll post online.
We are not doing anybody any favors by conceptualizing everything in the neoliberal language of choice. Choices people make, especially on such a massive level, are a result of objective conditions. That’s what we need to look at if we are to reach any understanding beyond platitudes.
Now, who’s eager to read Neoliberal Love where I talk about this at great length?
Clarissa's Blog 
When is the book coming out?
LikeLike
I’m still writing. The date I chose randomly to finish is August 26. I’m at 64,000 words, so it’s getting there.
LikeLike
That seems auspicious. My birthday is August 26. Here’s hoping the book is done by then and when it’s published I’ll get it as a present.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a deal!
I’ll now be motivated to finish it by that precise day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Poor countries and poor people have more children. Poor people in poor countries have the most children.
LikeLike
By this logic, South Korea is far far richer than the US.
LikeLike
By this logic, South Korea is far far richer than the US.
Or Italy (1.24 per woman). Or Spain (1.16). Oh, Portugal, too (1.43). These countries are poorer than the US and have lower birthrates.
Poor people in poor countries have more children, says Anonymous. Hmmm, it’s not that simple. Nowadays, in many countries, affluent upper-class couples tend to have many more children than middle-class families, sometimes as many as or even more than people in reduced circumstances.
It’s hyper-educated white middle-class women who are not having children in the West.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly. What’s happening in South Korea and Japan is way beyond the simplistic “these are rich countries.”
LikeLike