Frankly, with the quarantine, I rather thought we would see a baby boom similar to the NYC 1965 blackout. After all, if you’re stuck at home with your SO, there are limited options and virtually none that are as much fun, right?
Not so much. The Brookings Institute is forecasting a decline in births in 2021 as a result of the quarantine, with as many as 500,000 fewer babies being born. This is based on what we know now. Another wave of this virus or another virus could up the ante quite a bit.
Have computer games and abuse replaced love?
That’s going to be another kick in the shins to the economy. Fewer babies means fewer purchases of baby things — clothing, furniture, diapers, etc. — and less demand for nannies or daycare. Down the road it means fewer teens and fewer buyers of teen products, including eventually cars.
And ultimately, it may mean that we have to import workers to do the jobs that these missing children won’t be there to do. If those jobs still exist by then.
We live in an interconnected world. Anything that happens affects all of us, in one way or another.
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