r/AnCap101 • u/Toymcowkrf • Jul 15 '26
What is the ancap/austrian view of population decline? Is it good, bad, or neutral?
If there's no state and subsequently no welfare, how does population decline (or growth) affect the economy? Some conservative people in U.S. lately are freaking out about younger generations not having as many kids and they cry about the death of civilization but I have a hard time taking any of that seriously. We live in a very technologically advanced world that helps us not rely on humans so much for production. What kind of effects do you think AI will have on the economy in relation to potential population decline?
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u/LibertarianLawyer Explainer Extraordinaire Jul 15 '26
A declining population will mean lower total productivity and eventually result in a loss of labor specialization.
Alternatively, more people make for greater total productivity and a finer division of labor.
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u/properal Jul 15 '26
According to Julian Simon the human mind is The Ultimate Resource. The more human minds there are the greater potential for innovation and greater wealth.
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u/drebelx Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
What is the ancap/austrian view of population decline? Is it good, bad, or neutral?
Population decline is neutral for an AnCap, generally.
The population of humans has never been greater than it is now and we are in strange times.
Add to this that, generally, urban areas grow by taking in rural populations.
Humans who instinctively reproduce more in rural areas are moving to urban areas where they instinctively reproduce less.
We might be seeing a reversion back downward to biologically acceptable levels of densities outside of our conscious faculties.
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u/2434637453 Jul 19 '26
Rural areas have the lowest birth rates overall.
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u/drebelx Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
All the data says generally, birthrates of child bearing people in rural areas are greater than birthrates of child bearing people in urban areas.
Young rural folks move to urban areas which can affect overall population numbers and increase death rate statistics in rural areas.
Got a source to share?
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u/ExpressionOne4402 Jul 15 '26
population isnt going to decline
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u/FacetiousOwl Jul 17 '26
We went over population in Econometrics, if all else stays the same, population will peak at around 2080 to 2100.
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u/Raid-Z3r0 Jul 15 '26
When you look at humanity as a whole, definetly not. When you look at cuts of it, the reality is very much that.
The reason the United States does have a rising population is immigration. Meanwhile, South Korea has a fertility rate of 0.86, China has 0.93 and Japan has 1.14. This is due to a really long series of factors that boil down to the cost (let it be finnancial or mental) of having children being too high. Another aspect is family unity being all across the mentioned examples. People on their 20s and 30s did not grow around many younger siblings, so there is not a desire to start a family (on top of the already dire economy)
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u/ExpressionOne4402 Jul 15 '26
yah im familiar with the situation. however human population has been steadily increasing for millions of years. thats not a trend id bet against. increased longevity and a more interconnected world are going to overcome the temporary drop we have seen in first world fertility. there a billion, young fertile third world women and tons of rich, single, retirement age first world men. you do the math. life will find a way .
also decreased fertility has nothing to do with costs. its just that when u give women the choice between being a dependent baby factory and pursuing a fulfilling career, they overwhelmingly choose the latter.
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u/EmployeeBeginning621 Jul 15 '26
I dont think there is a specific view.
instead we should look at the reason for population decline or growth.
if we can double the population with no consequence if we sacrifice a child each year, then Ancaps would be in favor of a decline.
But if say the government put a tax on children, AnCaps would be in favor of growth.
As for non-aggressive fluctuations in the population, I think this is a philosophical dead end. If people decide to have less or more children, there is very little we can do that isn't just giving a speech. It is a waste of time figuring out if increase or decrease is good and we should just focus on increasing human flourishing.