If you were given a money printing press, tell me, would you use it with restraint? I think that as long as you still have a shred of human nature in you, you absolutely would not.
Therefore, that first path is completely unfeasible. As for the population, when will it hit rock bottom? There is absolutely no historical precedent for a recovery among advanced nations. Consequently, whether it is China or India, there will be no rebound. Survival is a fundamental human instinct, but destruction is a fundamental human instinct as well
The Indus Valley Civilization is the only civilization known that has decreased income inequality with increased prosperity.
Inequality declined in the Bronze Age city of Mohenjo-daro
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At least in India, the Nationalists follow this culture. Modi and many of the Nationalist leaders chosen to lead the party do not have wealth or intend to have families and children to prevent dynasties, nepotism, and corruption.
Once people become educated and civilized, they feel a profound sense of responsibility toward their offspring. If you maintain the current system of ownership—where wealth is passed from father to son, and from son to grandson—then the naturally logical strategy to ensure the next generation lives a better life is to have fewer children. This should be a universal consensus among all parents.
Having more children is for oneself; having fewer children is for the sake of the children.
Therefore, population collapse has nothing to do with economic levels; it has to do with human nature. This process is irreversible.
Unless, as I just mentioned, this entire system of ownership is completely razed to the ground and the state steps in to raise your children, it is absolutely impossible for the population to rebound
This is true, but the threshold is still high. When people become educated and civilized, they tend to have 2-3 children, even 5 at times, not 10-15.
2-3 children is the norm. What forces them to end up with 1 is career advancement and financial pressure. Women have been tempted away from having children in exchange for a career. But if a girl child grows up in a well-adjusted family and has a responsible husband, she will end up with more than 1 child.
In developed countries, especially in the West, large companies have bought family homes and inflated rent. This forces parents to divert money away from children, so they end up having just one. So it's a governance problem. If companies are kicked out of the 2 and 3 bedroom markets and housing construction is deregulated, parents will have more kids. But the Western govts don't want to do that 'cause Bolsheviks are in control.
In India, both homes and schools are expensive. Homes can't be helped at the moment due to rapid urbanization. But wealth growth is somewhat commensurate with growth in real estate. Once urbanization stabilizes, only with good governance can society ensure homes are affordable. The other factor is private schools. Half the children in India today go to private schools and many in cities have very high fees. Modi has deregulated private schools, so in time it could get cheaper as more and more schools come up in neighborhoods that currently lack schools. So these two have to stabilize for families to grow.
But whether your country is developing or developed, good governance is the key. Education, housing, and access to credit are the key metrics for having children. This requires common and gender-specific education, private property and land ownership, deregulated banking and housing sectors. The US used to have all of this until the 1980s, after education and housing reforms. It's also when they started their climate change rhetoric. This is essentially when the Bolshevik takeover began. After seeing how the real estate bubble damaged Japan, they recreated those conditions in the US, India, and China.