I’d like to take a quick break from jihad, genocide, and military
operations to discuss something a little happier—babies. While I normally eschew parenting books, I
recently read one by Bryan Caplan,
an economist who is often retweeted by my favorite libertarian.
Caplan’s premise in Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids is simple: Today’s Typical Parent puts an insane amount of unnecessary
effort into raising children. He amalgamates social science studies to
reach the conclusion that this effort rarely pays off. Twin and adoption research routinely shows that
family environment--the "nurture" in "nature versus nurture"--has little effect on a child’s health,
happiness, intelligence, success, character, or values. So the time that parents spend fretting about
their children’s homework or resumes will do little to change what college they
get into.
Caplan’s advice: ditch the baby Einstein or the
endless ballet, karate, and violin classes.
Instead, have a baby with someone that has the traits you prefer. If you want a smart kid, marry a smart woman. If you want a kid with a criminal record, go
for the “bad boy” type. My favorite
quote: “The right spouse is like a genie who grants wishes you are powerless to
achieve through your own efforts.” So spend the time that you would have spent at one of those pointless success-building activities
doing something that makes you happy.
Once people realize that raising children is easier than
they thought, then it is in their own self-interest to have
more kids. Caplan urges them to look past
the lack of sleep they will get in the first few months or the angst their teens will throw at them.
Instead, they should think of themselves in their sixties. More kids presumably means more visitors, and
might mean more grandkids.
Caplan is so logical.
I especially liked his translation of psychological and sociological
studies into concrete parenting advice.
Although I disagreed with some parts of his “Life-Giving Science”
chapter—the bioethicist in me believes that there should be some limiting
principles in reproductive technology besides those provided by simple market theory—on the
whole, he makes a compelling argument.
If people become better at evaluating their own long-term self-interest,
they will realize that bringing another child into the world is a pretty darn
good deal. I recommend this book to anyone
who is currently parenting or would like to have kids in the future. You can borrow my copy—but only after my
husband reads it. I have a feeling he’s
going to push back on the sociological research that bolsters Caplan’s theory.
Why does this book review belong on a blog about America's issues? Caplan expressly says that he is NOT advocating for government intervention in family planning. But he also argues that having more kids would be good for the country. New people mean new ideas. New ideas mean solutions to existing problems. So maybe the best way to fix the situation we are in now is to just find intelligent, driven spouses, have a mess of kids with them, and hope the next generation can sort things out.
