# How will falling fertility rates hurt the economy? With Melissa Kearney

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-economics-show-6910728/how-will-falling-fertility-rates-hurt-the-economy-with-melissa-kearney.md
Podcast: [The Economics Show](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-economics-show-6910728)
Published: 2026-05-01T04:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/the-economics-show-with-soumaya-keynes/episodes/how-will-falling-fertility-rates-hurt-the-economy-with-melis
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/664394a442f6710013618119/e/69f3c7fcad985792895f6a5e/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-economics-show-6910728/episodes/how-will-falling-fertility-rates-hurt-the-economy-with-melissa-kearney
Duration seconds: 2029

## Resource

Typically, a society’s population remains stable if women have about 2.1 children each. By that metric, the word has a big problem. In developed countries the total fertility rate is well below that figure. So what are the economic consequences of that shortfall? Soumaya Keynes speaks to Melissa Kearney, a professor at the University of Notre Dame and the director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, which recently put out a series on the topic: Demographic Headwinds: The Economic Consequences of Lower Birth Rates and Longer Lives.They discuss why the fertility rate won’t reverse course any time soon — and what happens when the rest of the baby boomers retire. Further reading: Why are fertility rates collapsing? Gender roles Could working from home solve the global fertility crisis? Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple , Spotify , Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. Presented by Soumaya Keynes. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Michela Tindera is the senior producer. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner. The FT head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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## Transcript

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