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For love alone? Understanding Australia''s declining birth rate requires more than simplistic generational generalisations.

Article Excerpt
If you thought the Howard Government's changes to family assistance--especially the revised baby bonus payment--reeked of opportunistic vote-buying, save your venom for the true culprits. According to Clive Hamilton, director of the Australian Institute, these are the generation Xers who are dismissing the virtues of parenthood in favour of 'the icy waters of financial calculation' (Age, 13 May).

Most generation Xers, Hamilton claims, are in the grip of 'luxury fever'. Their 'decision to have a baby is the result of a cost-benefit analysis' and depends on a couple holding down 'two high-paying jobs ... a couple of expensive cars ... and [being] well on their way to providing for their retirement'.

Perhaps I'm taking Hamilton too seriously: only eighteen months ago, it was the baby boomers who were the target of his ire against luxury fever (Sydney Morning Herald, 30 November 2002), suggesting Hamilton might be choosing his generational targets pretty much at random.

In any case, he produces not a shred of evidence in support of his claims. For me,...

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