Some info I dug up.
What are your theories on child labor in the work force?
... I would say that child labor laws are the only thing that kept me in high school.What Has Government Done to Our Families? had stripped away the value of children to parents. But the costs of children remained at home. In consequence, children had now become the chief cause of poverty. Given the incentives set up by the state, the very persons who contributed the most to the nation's survival by having children were dragged down into poverty, shoddy housing, poor nutrition, and limited recreational opportunities. A voluntary choice between poverty with children or a higher living standard without them was what young couples now faced. Young adults were forced to support the retired and the needy through the state's welfare system, and also the children to which they gave life. Under this multiple burden, they had chosen to reduce their number of children as the only factor over which they had control. The result, for Sweden, was depopulation and the specter of national extinction.
It seems that for many swedish children child labor and other laws not only prevented them from having to work but also from having siblings.
Total swedish fertility rate 1.54 children born/woman (2002 est.) where 2.1 is a replacement rate.
Sweden's population grew at a rate of 0.01 percent between 1980 and 1985, and since 1985 it has actually declined.
I guess making people wealthier by dissuading them from expense of raising children - at least untill those people retire - is a simple and elegant idea.
I wonder why nobody came up with it in all the human history. Oh, wait - I actually know a few cultures that did just that and reached incredible prosperity compared to the surrounding cultures. The most recent and closest to us would be the Shakers. Why don't we hear about them? Right - because they went exitinct!
miko
