Demographic Decline, Part I: Baby Subsidies Are an Ineffective Response

I have a five-part series (here, here, here, here, and here) explaining that demographic decline will lead to fiscal crisis. The main takeaway is that entitlement programs are a ticking time bomb, and I castigate politicians who want to kick the can down the road (or make a bad situation even worse). This is a global problem, not merely an American problem, as […]

Demographic Decline, Part I: Baby Subsidies Are an Ineffective Response

Japan’s Growing Burden of Government Means an Inevitable Fiscal Crisis

I often get asked when the United States will suffer a Greek-style fiscal crisis. My answer is always “I don’t know,” though I freely admit we are heading in that direction. My lack of specificity isn’t merely because economists are lousy forecasters. I tell people it’s all about investor sentiment, and it’s hard to know […]

Japan’s Growing Burden of Government Means an Inevitable Fiscal Crisis

The population bust

270 Deception and Psychopathy Robert Trivers EP 270

Population bust

https://www.facebook.com/share/174sD1imMa/

Fertility

https://www.facebook.com/share/1GUaqMEV2D/

French President Macron: a blockhead whose ignorance will harm Israel

A fair number of countries have decided to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state (the U.N. can’t as it requires Security-Council approval, and the U.S. is on that council).  This has had little effect as simple declarations like this have no force in international law (see reference to Natasha Hausdorff below). Now, however, another state […]

French President Macron: a blockhead whose ignorance will harm Israel

Immigrant Assimilation Is Obviously High

I recently argued that self-reports understate the personality gender gap. As long as some men rate their personalities relative to the average male, and some women rate their personalities relative to the average female, the gap the data reveal is less than the true gap. 798 more words

Immigrant Assimilation Is Obviously High

The population bust

https://www.facebook.com/share/19xbhfhkMu/

Japan facts of the day

Japan must stop being overly optimistic about how quickly its population is going to shrink, economists have warned, as births plunge at a pace far ahead of core estimates. Japan this month said there were a total of 686,000 Japanese births in 2024, falling below 700,000 for the first time since records began in the […]

Japan facts of the day

The grandson of the 10th US President has just died

John Tyler was born in 1790 – 235 years ago. He became the 10th President of the United States, yet his grandson has just died. He had 15 children between 1815 (when he was 25) and 1860 (when he was 70). He was President from 1841 to 1845. One of the 150 was Lyon Tyler […]

The grandson of the 10th US President has just died

Japan’s population crisis reaches tipping point | FT Film

US State-Level Abortion Regulations: Causes and Effects

Regulations about abortion are often wildly controversial. But what effects to they actually have? Caitlin Myers addresses these issues in “From Roe to Dobbs: 50 Years of Cause and Effect of US State Abortion Regulations” (Annual Review of Public Health 2025, pp. 433-446). As a starting point, consider the years before and after the 1973 US Supreme Court…

US State-Level Abortion Regulations: Causes and Effects

Korea’s Low Fertility Rate

Fertility rates are falling around the world, but Republic of Korea is the outlier, with a fertility rate of 0.72 in 2024. The International Monetary Fund, in its report on Korea’s economic situation (generally quite good), thought that Korea’s low fertility justified adding an “Annex” to its most recent report on Korea’s economy: “Addressing Korea’s…

Korea’s Low Fertility Rate

The Silver (-Haired) Economy

In its most recent World Economic Outlook report, the IMF includes a chapter on “The Rise of the Silver Economy: Global Implications of Population Aging” (April 2025). Here are the big trends in a nutshell. The red line (measured on the right-hand axis) shows that the average age of the global poulation was about 27…

The Silver (-Haired) Economy

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