There’s more to the baby bust than COVID-19

A baby represents an investment in the future. Looking back at the last 15 months, you could understand why some people may not feel great about having one right now. But the causes and effects of a record-low birthrate stretch much further than the pandemic. On today’s show, Notre Dame economics professor Kasey Buckles will help us put the birthrate in context and unpack the immigration, climate and economic implications. Later in the show, listeners weigh in the death of the mall and the return of cruise ships, plus acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel answers the Make Me Smart Question.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

“U.S. Population Over Last Decade Grew at Slowest Rate Since 1930s” from The New York Times
“Half a million fewer children? The coming COVID baby bust” from the Brookings Institution
“Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States” from the Migration Policy Institute
“World’s population is projected to nearly stop growing by the end of the century” from Pew Research Center
“Pfizer’s Covid vaccine revenues hit $3.5bn in first quarter” from the Financial Times
“Deutsche Bank NYC Staff to Work From Home Until at Least July” from Bloomberg
“Goldman Sachs just told its US staffers they need to be back in the office by June 14 in one of Wall Street’s earliest pushes to get employees back in person” from Insider
“How Basecamp blew up” from Platformer
Subscribe to Marketplace Tech to hear Molly’s three-part interview with acting FCC Chair Rosenworcel!