By Ryan McMaken
"Thanks to increasingly broad car-seat laws, a third child often requires the purchase of a larger, more expensive vehicle. At the margins, this has an effect on fertility."
I dont agree.
Some people cant have children, that is a fertility issue.
Havjng a big enough car or enough car seats is a choice, not a fertility issue.
It depends on the field. Fertility research is about anything that impacts birthrates. That is different than specifically medical research into fertility.
I once had a student who said she was offended when I said something along the lines of "The data shows that employed women have lower fertility rates."
As I probed into her question, I realized that when regular people hear the word fertility, they think of the ability to have children. But when social scientists hear it, they think the act of having children, whether by choice or otherwise.
So, just an interesting note for those of us "in the profession" that we can get so caught up in our own jargon that we forget how it sounds to outsiders.
What I've seen is old research at this point, but after around 4 there wasn't much, if any, benefit. Then, it looked like they might actually be harmful as kids get older.
fertility, they think of theability to have children. But when social scientists hear it, they thinkthe act of having children, whether by choice or otherwise.