Project description
Population policies for future generations
Falling fertility rates worldwide are dramatically changing societies. Many countries are now facing birth rates below replacement levels, raising complex questions about how governments should respond. The ERC-funded NU-POPP project will explore three key ethical dimensions of fertility policy. Researchers will examine the responsibility to prioritise the needs of current generations, even if this limits future growth. The team will also address reproductive autonomy, questioning the government’s role in interfering in personal fertility decisions. Eventually, they will highlight the trade-off between promoting higher birth rates and preserving resources for other valuable activities, such as advances in science or cultural preservation. These perspectives will be incorporated into a macroeconomic model. Project outcomes could contribute to redefining what an optimal, ethical fertility policy could look like.
Objective
The world is undergoing a dramatic demographic transition. Fertility rates are falling almost everywhere. In many countries, birth rates are already below replacement. How should policymakers respond, if at all?
This question poses a unique challenge because, in addition to standard utilitarian considerations, there are important non-utilitarian angles to consider. The goal of this project is to surface these considerations and clarify their implications for optimal fertility policy.
This project will study optimal fertility policy from three non-utilitarian angles. The first is our special obligations towards our contemporaries. Instead of assuming that the goal of policy is to bring about the best outcome from an impartial perspective, I will consider an alternative framework in which policy makers are bound to prioritize the interests of their contemporaries. This means that, even if the planner can bring about a future that is both populous and prosperous, he may choose not to do so if it would be too costly to current people.
The second perspective is reproductive autonomy. If we accept the principle that people have the right to make their own fertility choices, then any government interference in this decision is potentially problematic. This has the potential to significantly limit the permissible policy options.
The third perspective is the intrinsic value of human achievements. Because raising children is costly, aggressive pronatalist policies may force us to divert resources from other valuable activities, such as the advancement of science or the preservation of our cultural heritage.
This project will incorporate these considerations into an otherwise standard quantitative macroeconomic model with endogenous fertility. The outcome of this analysis will be a characterization of the optimal fertility policy, and a deeper understanding of how different normative considerations affect the desirable response to the ongoing demographic transition.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8006 Zurich
Switzerland
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