Wow I Must Annoy Bryan Caplan
When it comes to his observations on children, I simply refuse to believe his two counterintuitive claims:
(1) Parents don’t matter.
(2) Children were never a good investment, even for families in traditional agricultural societies.
As I say, Bryan must be incredibly frustrated with someone like me who basically says, “I don’t care what data you point to, Bryan, how can you possibly believe that?”
But really, Bryan, how can you possibly believe those statements? #2 I suppose is not patently absurd, just highly unlikely. But #1?!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Bryan should abandon this topic as pointless. Rather, I’m suggesting that he says, “Hmm, you would think parents would matter in this way, but the evidence says they don’t. So let’s refine our intuitions to make them more accurate.”
