IN November 2018, The Economist devoted several pages to news of the rapid and unexpected decline in birth rates in the United States: “…this trend is bad for America in the long run. A smaller working-age population makes public pensions less affordable and means the national debt is carried on fewer shoulders. Until recently, it looked as though pro-natalist policies such as generous parental leave and subsidised nurseries could be left to those godless Europeans. In America, faith and family values would ensure a good supply of babies.”