public policy & population

I guess the Swedish just really don't want to have kids!

From a mailing list, in a conversation about paternity/maternity leave:

...it's 18 months that we get in Sweden, with dad having to take at least 3 months of it.

Technically, both parents could get a job, and then produce children at the rate of 1 every year or so until retirement, and never work again.

The fact that even with this policy, our nativity rate is sub-self-sustaining, and that only 40% of fathers even use the benefit at all (average 38 days), is an interesting demonstration of how little impact policies have on the behavior of people.