December Archive

Three vignettes about Christmas and the Demographic Winter

Jennifer Roback Morse | 26 December 2012

We Baby Boomers rationalized having fewer kids by saying we were Saving the Earth. As luck would have it, our ecological religion of smaller families allowed us higher incomes and consumption than we could have had any other way. But we didn’t think through the human reality of that trade-off. Smaller families, more adults living with roommates instead of with families, more loneliness.

Merry Christmas!

Marcus Roberts | 21 December 2012

Merry Christmas!

Wife Sharing in India

Marcus Roberts | 19 December 2012

Another pernicious consequence of gendercide in India.

An end to Down syndrome in New Zealand?

Shannon Roberts | 17 December 2012

Testing for Down syndrome is now routine in New Zealand - something which you opt out of, rather than opt to have. That means that less and less of children with Down syndrome are being born. Is that what the government hopes to achieve by funding a routine test? Perhaps not, but that is certainly the effect and the implication to a young mother – it is certainly how I felt when I was asked if I wanted the test earlier in the year.

A Planet Full of Itchy Feet

Marcus Roberts | 13 December 2012

There are more of us travelling as tourists than ever before.

The Making of a Myth

Marcus Roberts | 10 December 2012

A short video on Overpopulation: The Making of a Myth

Decline in Child Rearing – “Late-Modern Exhaustion”

Marcus Roberts | 07 December 2012

An excellent opinion piece from Ross Douthat from NYTimes.

A New Royal

Shannon Roberts | 05 December 2012

It appears that there will soon be another Royal addition to the world with the much anticipated news that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby. According to the BBC, one historian reported it as being the first "duty and ambition" of someone in Kate’s position to produce an heir because “marriages and births are crucial to the very survival of the ancient institution” which is the Royal family.

New Zealand: Ghost Towns and Emigrants

Marcus Roberts | 04 December 2012

New Zealand's future: bigger, older, more Aucklandish...