The way Americans talk about government efforts to boost birth rates is always odd. Since conservatives want more people to get married and have children, those opposed to conservatives often declare this an unworthy and nefarious goal. But encouraging marriage and parenthood, per se, isn't the issue. The real problem here is that pronatalist policies, as traditionally understood, just don't work.
Around the world, we've seen pronatalist policies fail. Even those that "succeed"—loosely speaking—tend to only shift the timing of births, not the total number.
And that's what we need more people to keep in mind as the Trump administration explores new pronatalist policies.
