Patterns in human demography are consistent with patterns seen among wild species, he says.
"As humans become richer and their environments become safer, we see parents investing more resources into their offspring and family sizes decreasing," Falster said.
He added that the model helps explain differences in family size between developed and developing nations.
"Predictions from the model are exactly what we've observed when comparing across countries," Falster said.
My Comments
So what is the safety or wealth threshold at which parents decide that it is not worth having any children? Joseph A. Schumpeter argued that only religious exhortations to have children could overcome the desire for a comfortable childless life.
