Will U.S. Fertility Decline Toward Zero?.

Aggregate responses to changing conditions in 19th century industrializing countries show that economic incentives induced populations to decrease fertility despite the use of inconvenient methods, lack of normative support, and strong opposition from church and state. Examining contemporary collective system properties from a socioeconomic perspective leads to the conclusion that the U.S. has become structurally antinatalist, despite popular and scholarly opinion to the contrary. Current attitude data also suggest a shift to antinatalism. Both aggregate and attitudinal data suggest that U.S. fertility may continue a decline toward zero instead of leveling off around ZPG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]