Mia (I am a boy but want to be a girl)

Posted Sunday, March 17, 2024

1mo

INFP

Sagittarius

3/17

Today, in my economics class, we discussed the concept of marginal effects, which suddenly reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend yesterday about the global population dilemma. You see, in countries like Taiwan or other developed nations, where the economy is more advanced and living conditions are better, people seem reluctant to have children. They often express sentiments like "let's not bring more children into this world to suffer." On the other hand, in some economically struggling developing countries, people continue to have children despite financial difficulties. Even though they may not be able to afford raising them, they keep having more. Yesterday, I was pondering this issue and trying to approach it from an economic perspective, but I couldn't figure out where to start. Then, today, when we discussed marginal effects in class, it provided me with a starting point. From a data-driven perspective, one could argue that when deciding to have a child, individuals evaluate whether the marginal benefits of having a child outweigh the marginal costs. Benefits may include the joy of being a parent, the satisfaction of nurturing a person's growth, or even having additional manpower to help. On the other hand, the costs include the resources required to raise the child. Of course, these factors are challenging to quantify, so it's more of a gut feeling. This could explain why developed countries are less inclined to have children. Compared to developing countries, the marginal benefits of having children decrease, while the marginal costs increase significantly, including the financial burden and the sacrifices made in terms of career opportunities. Especially for individuals with a broader perspective, who have higher expectations for the environment in which they raise their children, the cost of raising a child is exceptionally high. However, in the eyes of people in developing countries, raising a child may not be as challenging, and the child could even become a source of labor once they reach a certain age. Thus, the total sum of the marginal benefits and costs of having children remains positive, even if they have many children. These are just some reflections I had today that I wanted to share with you all. 今天聽經濟學的課討論的是邊際效應，這突然讓我想到，我昨天跟朋友聊天時，討論到的地球人口矛盾。 你看，台灣或是其他已開發國家，明明經濟更發達，更適合人居住，但反而人不願意生，說著不要再把孩子帶來這個世界受苦。 然後一些經濟不好的開發中國家，反而人民一直生一直生，明明生下來也不一定養得起，但還是一直生。 我昨天就一直想用經濟學來嘗試討論這個問題，但想不到要從什麼方向介入，剛好今天聽到了邊際效應，可以作為一個切入點。 如果很數據化的方式來討論，可以說決定生一個孩子時，表示評估下來的，這個孩子帶來的邊際效益大於邊際成本，效益可能是當家長的喜悅，培養一個人成長的喜悅，甚至是有人力可以幫忙的喜悅，而邊際成本就是要把一個孩子養大的那個付出。 當然這些都是很難數據化出來的，所以應該是一種感覺。 這樣就可以解釋為什麼發達國家不願意生了，因為相對於開發中國家，發達國家生孩子的邊際效益變低，而邊際成本卻成長得太多，包括金錢甚至是為此而放棄的工作機會，特別是ㄧ些有足狗視野的人，會對自己養育孩子的環境特別要求，那麼對於他而言，養育一個孩子的成本也就非常之高。 而在開發中國家人民眼中，養活一個孩子不困難，甚至可能只要養到一定歲數，孩子就可以做為勞動力來源，那麼生孩子的邊際效益邊際成本總和，那怕生很多個了，仍然是正的˙。 今天自己做的思考，分享給大家。 (edited)