For decades, the great fear was overpopulation. Now it’s the opposite. How did this happen — and what’s being done about it? (Part one of a three-part series, “Cradle to Grave.”)

SOURCES:
- Matthias Doepke, professor of economics at the London School of Economics.
- Amy Froide, professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
- Diana Laird, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco.
- Catherine Pakaluk, professor of economics at The Catholic University of America.

RESOURCES:
- "Fertility Rate, Total for the United States," (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 2025).
- "Global fertility in 204 countries and territories, 1950–2021, with forecasts to 2100: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021," (The Lancet, 2024).
- "Suddenly There Aren’t Enough Babies. The Whole World Is Alarmed." by Greg Ip and Janet Adamy (The Wall Street Journal, 2024).
- "Taxing bachelors and proposing marriage lotteries – how superpowers addressed declining birthrates in the past," by Amy Froide (University of Maryland, 2021).
- "Is Fertility a Leading Economic Indicator?" by Kasey Buckles, Daniel Hungerman, and Steven Lugauer (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2018).
- The King's Midwife: A History and Mystery of Madame du Coudray, by Nina Rattner Gelbart (1999).
- The Population Bomb, by Paul Ehrlich (1970).
- "An Economic Analysis of Fertility," by Gary Becker (National Bureau of Economic Research, 1960).

EXTRAS:
- "What Will Be the Consequences of the Latest Prenatal-Testing Technologies?" by Freakonomics Radio (2011).

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