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If this is your first Z-Pack, welcome - I'm Zach.

I’m chronically online, finding out how the world works.

⬇️ Let’s get it.

👶 A huge issue no political party talks about

The headlines: 🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗

The reality: this should be a bigger topic in news AND in political circles, since the U.S. (and many countries) need to make up for this lack of babies, like having more immigration.

The TLDR: Less than half of the world’s population is having enough kids to make sure their countries’ population size remains stable over time (known as replacement-level fertility in economics). Why is an older population and less babies a bad thing? There are a few major economic + social implications:

1. Lots of old people = higher healthcare needs and lower productivity, which can strain public health systems and reduce economic growth

2. Less workers = labor shortages, less talent, less consumption = less innovation and our ability to compete with other countries = worsening economy

3. More retirees + less workers = less people paying taxes & more people getting benefits like pensions and healthcare = added pressure on social security and public finances, which maybe = higher taxes or reduced benefits.

4. TBD cultural impact = smaller families and different family structure may change everything, from housing markets to educational systems.

What to expect next? Some countries have been trying to counter this by making themselves an attractive place for immigrants, like Japan and Canada.

Others, like Hungary, have invested lots of resources into this as policy - for example, no taxes for 3+ kids, debt forgiveness, & subsidies for homes. In Hungary’s case, this is ~5% of their GDP 🤯

For context, the U.S. military is 3.2% of our country’s spending, so this is BIG spending we’re talking about here.

So, based on experiences of countries like Hungary, it’s seeming like this isn’t really a “I’m too poor to have kids” thing, but more of a “I just… don’t want kids” thing, which I’m not sure how you solve tbh 😵‍💫

Why should this matter to you? If you were scared about the world overpopulating, have no fear now. The fate of our country’s economy (and most of the world’s) is going to depend on increasing immigration to make up for this labor shortage 🙏

Still hungry for more info?

• Check out soon-to-be economist Maia Mindel’s post here

Thanks for taking the Pack,

Zach

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Disclaimer: This is not financial advice or recommendation for any investment. The Content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.