I’m not convinced the fucking has declined. :-)
I guess it is more that by now it is decoupled from family planning, which combined with more rational considerations (tied to higher education levels) lead to reduced family sizes.
Education is tied to delayed children not reduced children. Again, the birth rate drop precedes education.
The explanation I recall is that in agricultural communities, kids have historically been able to do a lot of the labor. This means the more kids you can have the more goats you can feed, etc.
In industrial environments, kids tend to not be able to do the labor. They lose fingers etc. So parents educate their kids in hopes it will increase job prospects. Each kid then costs more money and are not good investments.
I’m not convinced the fucking has declined. :-)
I guess it is more that by now it is decoupled from family planning, which combined with more rational considerations (tied to higher education levels) lead to reduced family sizes.
Education is tied to delayed children not reduced children. Again, the birth rate drop precedes education.
The explanation I recall is that in agricultural communities, kids have historically been able to do a lot of the labor. This means the more kids you can have the more goats you can feed, etc.
In industrial environments, kids tend to not be able to do the labor. They lose fingers etc. So parents educate their kids in hopes it will increase job prospects. Each kid then costs more money and are not good investments.
Its just the calculus of child labor.