economic-sustainability

The concern that families fear they cannot financially support children, influencing reproductive decisions.

2 chapters across 2 books

Pandaemonium: The Coming of the Machine as Seen by Contemporary Observers 1660-1886 (1985)Humphrey Jennings

1. Itt hath been showen that if all, or near all, the teeming women aged between 18 and 44 years old, were married & did bear a Child in every 2 yeares & a halfe, that the work here propounded will be efectually done.

This chapter discusses a proposed demographic and social strategy to increase population growth by encouraging all women aged 18 to 44 to marry and bear children every two and a half years. It highlights the current imbalance between males and females, the economic concerns limiting marriage and childbearing, and suggests government intervention to support women with children by taking custody of the children for 25 years. The chapter reflects on societal and divine consequences for women who bear children irresponsibly and advocates for state-managed child-rearing as a solution to population and economic challenges.

Red Mars (1992)Kim Stanley Robinson

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The chapter details a journey up the Tharsis slope on Mars, focusing on the construction and strategic importance of a space elevator tethered to Pavonis Mons. Phyllis, a key organizer, passionately explains the technical and economic benefits of the elevator, emphasizing its role in overcoming Mars's gravity well and enabling a new Martian economy. John Boone expresses skepticism about the privatization of such infrastructure, highlighting political and economic tensions surrounding control and profit from the project.