The Mystery of Why Japanese People Are Having So Few Babies

Discussion in 'Economics' started by OddTrader, Jul 24, 2017.

  1. The Mystery of Why Japanese People Are Having So Few Babies

    Many point to unromantic 20-somethings and women’s entry into the workforce, but an overlooked factor is the trouble young men have in finding steady, well-paid jobs.

    Alana Semuels Jul 20, 2017

    https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/07/japan-mystery-low-birth-rate/534291/

    But Japan’s problems do have implications for the United States, where temporary jobs are common, and where union power is getting weaker with every year. As I’ve written before, men are struggling in many regions of the country because of the decline of manufacturing and the opioid epidemic. And studies have shown that as men’s economic prospects decline, so do their chances of marrying. The U.S.’s fertility rate is already at historic lows—and worsening economic conditions for men could further depress it.
     
    VPhantom likes this.
  2. zdreg

    zdreg

    the gang bangers will keep the birth rate from collapsing. they are from the old school when it comes to women. their philosophy is keep them barefoot and pregnant.:cool:
     
  3. DaveV

    DaveV

    For many years, the fertility rate of EVERY major industrialized has been below the replacement rate (2.1 children per woman) required to main the population. Japan is low at 1.46%, but only slightly below China at 1.57, and Germany at 1.50%. The USA is 1.84.

    The problem with a declining population is that most of the economy (Social Security, Medicaid, retail spending, the price of housing, government deficit spending, etc) is based on the assumption that the population will be steadily increasing. The USA, Canada and most of Western Europe solves the problem by simply allowing more immigrants. Japan's main problem is that they pretty much refuse to do even minimal immigration, and remain one of the most homogeneous major populations on earth.
     
  4. So... Western countries flood their countries with low IQ, disease-ridden, murderers, rapists, savages, and criminals... rather than reduce social payments?
     
  5. Without immigrants, the US would probably encounter some other macro problems, according to history (below link).

    Say, by tomorrow the population is reduced by 50% caused by various reasons including a large number of emigrants due to zero social benefits, or death due to nuclear war onshore with zero immigrants, etc.

    Then probably 50% public hospitals/schools/restaurants/police stations/ empty houses/ petrol stations/ etc. etc would be closed, causing a lot of unemployment. So the unemployed would emigrate to another country like others the first round before them, causing the second round of 50% population reduction, partly (if not mainly) due to zero social benefits.

    Then the third round, the forth round, ...

    What would the governors do? While some of the state governors would do nothing. However, some other state governors would probably provide social benefits in order to maintain the level of population by stopping any outflow emigrants.

    Same scenarios could be applicable among competing countries for foreign immigrants.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuous_circle_and_vicious_circle

    Perhaps, sometimes immigrants could be not a bad thing after all! LOL

    1.
    July 17, 2017 / 3:46 PM / 7 days ago
    U.S. allows more seasonal workers as Trump pushes 'hire American'
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-visas-idUSKBN1A21PA

    2. economic contractions

    Definition: An economic contraction is a decline in national output as measured by gross domestic product. That includes drop in real personal income, industrial production and retail sales. It will usually increase unemployment rates. Companies stop hiring to save money in the face of lower demand. Towards the middle of a contraction, they start laying off workers, sending unemployment rates higher. It's one of the four phases of the business cycle, also known as the boom and bust cycle.
    https://www.thebalance.com/economic-contraction-4067683
     
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2017
    Chubbly likes this.
  6. This is not a new "revelation". Within Japan is this already known for quite a number of years. Multiple studies, carried out over the years, showed that the lack of a stable financial future made couples reluctant to start a family. And for single men to find a spouse.
    It is only recently that other countries (e.g. USA, Europe) are looking to those trends in Japan as Japan has been leading the way in this aspect. Birth rates are falling and societies are greying: less children versus more older/retired people.
     
  7. Figured out long ago that we allow all sorts of flotsam (and some jetsam too) into the country to feed the hungry economic ponzi we have created.

    I think if everyone simply buys as much Bitcoin as they can get their hands on, all those problems will be solved and we can close the borders.
     
    shatteredx likes this.
  8. d08

    d08

    Do these immigrants carry all these qualities at once or are they assigned one category each?
     
    VPhantom, Cuddles, DaveV and 2 others like this.
  9. I saw the results of a survey on Japanese TV recently which found that 25% of Japanese guys aren't interested at all in having any kind of relationship with women. They're not gay, but they seem to be more interested in computer games etc. rather than the young women who are not as obedient as the older generations were. And 40% of the women aren't interested in the young men, as they view them as not being someone on which they could depend i.e. weak, wishy washy.
     
  10. My long time observation has been the western countries should have invested in the third world long long time ago in order to improve their education and economic conditions.

    Perhaps that would help improve the current economic and political conditions of the US as well as the whole world quite a bit in return. With better and stronger economies for the western countries including Japan, while less refugees worldwide provided birth control was introduced many decades ago - Disregarding whatever religious ideologies.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2017
    #10     Jul 25, 2017