![]() ![]() This resulted in lower fertility rates causing the Baby Bust. ![]() Following this period, the next generation had a greater desire for material objects, however, an economic slowdown in the United States made jobs harder to acquire. These two factors gave rise to a high relative income, which encouraged high fertility. The "relative income" theory explains the baby boom by suggesting that the late 1940s and the 1950s brought low desires to have material objects, because of the Great Depression and World War II, as well as plentiful job opportunities (being a post-war period). This ratio depends on the economic stability of the country and how people are raised to value material objects. The "relative income" theory suggests that couples choose to have children based on a couple's ratio of potential earning power and the desire to obtain material objects. Easterlin attempts to prove the cause of the baby boom and baby bust by the "relative income" theory, despite the various other theories that these events have been attributed to. Causes Įconomist and demographer Richard Easterlin in his "Twentieth Century American Population Growth" (2000), explains the growth pattern of the American population in the 20th century by examining the fertility rate fluctuations and the decreasing mortality rate. The baby boom ended with a significant decline in fertility rates in the 1960s and 1970s, later called the baby bust by demographers. The baby boom was most prominent among educated and economically active women. In most of the Western countries, progression to a third child and beyond declined, which, coupled with aforementioned increase in transition to first and second child, resulted in higher homogeneity in family sizes. The increase in fertility was driven primarily by a decrease in childlessness and an increase in parity progression to a second child. This terminology led to those born during this baby boom being nicknamed the baby boomer generation. The term baby boom is often used to refer to this particular boom, generally considered to have started immediately after World War II, although some demographers place it earlier or during the war. The middle of the 20th century was marked by a significant and persistent increase in fertility rates in many countries of the world, especially in the Western world. The US Census Bureau defines baby boomers as those born between mid-1946 and mid-1964 (shown in red). United States birth rate (births per 1000 population). ![]()
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