If people are having children for money rather than actually wanting children, there will be a price to pay later on.
Yes, but I still consider it better than China’s one-child policy.
And it won’t work, either. Jonathan Last, a demographer, has a book called What to Expect When No One’s Expecting, and he gives the details of similar efforts all around the first world, and no nation has been able to get its fertility rate up by simply paying for babies. The rate will rubber band up for a minute, but then fall again and usually lower than it started. There ARE some strategies that work better than others, and I have captured them all in a post on my blog that asserts his findings should be the basis for a third pro-life party, The White Lily Blog, just google it if you’re interested. Mr. Last says that the only country that has actually rebounded apparently long term from a TFR of less than 1.5 is Georgia, and only because it had retained faith in its orthodox church, and only because that church took an active role in rebuilding the family. So. The Catholic Church? Not so much. Vatican II endorsed the false notion of over-population, quietly, by simply dropping emphasis on the ancient and good teaching.