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Readers of The Liberty Hawk will know me for being quite a strong critic of populism and their new favorite term “a pro-family economy.” I forget where I first heard this phrase. I think it was from Tucker Carlson but don’t quote me on that. However, it is one that has come up time and time again.
For instance, an article about depression for The Daily Groyper (yes, that website exists. And yes, it’s just as “great” as you’d think it would be) starts going into a rant about the need for this economic shift so that less people will be mentally ill:
“If we are ever to fix this problem, we need to enact policies that encourage couples to stay together and promote a more traditional family structure. A policy that has been historically effective is to give tax cuts to married couples and increase that tax cut for each child the family has. This has been implemented with massively positive results in Hungary.”
Of course, what this groyper doesn’t seem to realize is that the United States has had both these policies for decades. Joint-couple filing is a giant tax cut to married couples and the child tax credit increases that tax cut. It doesn’t seem to be working as the US has a fertility rate of 1.8 as of 2016, making us below replacement levels.
Failed congressional candidate (and unpopular populist) Pete D’Abrosca promised that if elected he would do the following:
“I’m in favor of pro-natal, pro-family policies similar to what we see in Hungary.”
But Hungary isn’t the only nation that has incentives for having children. In fact, historically, left-wing governments have been the biggest proponents of various “pro-family” policies.
On January 15th, CNN posted an article about a survey regarding which country was the best to raise children. The top three countries were Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
Yet, it seems like the numbers show these programs don’t work. Denmark has a fertility rate of 1.71, Sweden of 1.85, and Norway of 1.72. All three of these nations are below replacement rate.
Deidre McPhilips, an expert who works as a senior data editor at both World Report and U.S. News, said the following on how the results ended up the way they did:
“These countries tend to have generous paternal leave and maternal leave, offer free preschool and have good overall public education systems.”
Yet, public education seems to have very little impact. In France, only 16.8% of students have a public education. Yet, they have a fertility rate of 1.96. Still not quite replacement, but closer to than any of the nations in the top three.
Here are some of the other countries mentioned:
“Canada came in fourth for raising kids, followed by the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia and Austria. The UK came in at number 11.”
Canada has a fertility rate of 1.6. Finland has one of 1.65, The Netherlands has 1.66, Switzerland has one of 1.54, New Zealand is at 1.87, Australia is at 1.81, Austria is at 1.49, and the UK has one 1.8.
Do you notice something? For countries that are “the best for raising children,” children do not seem to be getting raised.
Oh, and as for Hungary, they have a fertility rate of 1.45. Guess even the best examples aren’t all that good.
You want to know what country has the highest fertility rate? Niger, with a rate of 6.49. It is also a highly socialist and highly impoverished country.
This is where “don’t worry about the economy” thinking gets you. A country where people are not only un-free, but also poor as dirt. But at least we made the number of people who are poor and not free go up, so we had a positive impact worldwide.
I look forward to Tucker Carlson’s segment praising Africa.
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Ephrom Josine is a libertarian political blogger/commentator, and a frequent contributor to The Liberty Hawk. In 2019, he published his first book Ramblings Of A Mad Man: Life As An Anarchist. You can find him on Twitter @EphromJosine1, writing near-daily on Medium @ephromjosine or weekly on Freedom First Blog.
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