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Population, Fertility, and Liberty | Cato Unbound

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People have been fretting about the “population problem” for at least fifty years. But over those five decades, the perceived problem has practically reversed. From the sixties to the eighties, the problems on people’s minds were overpopulation and the “population explosion.” The proposed solutions were usually government programs ranging from mild nudges (like free condoms and sex education) to horrific coercion (like India’s involuntary sterilizations and China’s one-child policy and forced abortions).[1] During this period, libertarians were predictably quick to oppose government action and defend individuals’ right to have as many children as they wished.[2] But they also developed a more intellectually creative response. Under the seminal influence of Julian Simon, libertarians embraced the view that high and growing population is good. The title of Simon’s most famous book became a leading libertarian slogan: People are the ultimate resource.[3] Over the last two decades, the per

Population, Fertility, and Liberty Tweet Like Submit Share People have been fretting about the "population problem" for at least fifty years. But over those five decades, the perceived problem has practically reversed. From the sixties to the eighties, the problems on people's minds were over population and the "population explosion." The proposed solutions were usually government programs ranging from mild nudges (like free condoms and sex education) to horrific coercion (like India's involuntary sterilizations and China's one-child policy and forced abortions).[1] During this period, liberta

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