Lots to say about this, but for now I'll just bring up something about birthdates that's been rattling around in my head for a while: why does the demographic transition model assume that the replacement rate is some sort of natural equilibrium? It seems totally unjustified, as there isn't any personal feedback between peoples individual choices to have a certain number of children and mass society's population growth rate. It's the exact opposite situation as among hunter-gatherers.
Lots to say about this, but for now I'll just bring up something about birthdates that's been rattling around in my head for a while: why does the demographic transition model assume that the replacement rate is some sort of natural equilibrium? It seems totally unjustified, as there isn't any personal feedback between peoples individual choices to have a certain number of children and mass society's population growth rate. It's the exact opposite situation as among hunter-gatherers.