2025-06-23
6 分钟The Economist. Hi, John Prideaux here.
I host Checks and Balance, our podcast on US politics.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
Here's an article from the latest edition of The Economist, handpicked by our team and read aloud.
I hope you enjoy it.
America's politicians have babies on the brain.
In February, President Donald Trump told officials to make IVF cheaper.
Even without its procreator-in-chief, Elon Musk,
the White House is thought to be working on a bigger package of pro-natalist policies.
Vice President J.D.
Vance is keen.
Mr. Trump says he favors a $5,000 handout for new parents.
In Britain, meanwhile, Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK,
a Magarish opposition party,
has proposed tax breaks and benefits to encourage women to have more children.
Politicians have long feared the fiscal consequences of an ageing population,
with too few young workers supporting legions of pensioners.
Governments in places with very low birth rates, such as Japan and South Korea,
have spent billions trying to reverse the decline, with little success.
The new pro-natalist policies of the transatlantic right differ from older ones in that they are more targeted at working-class women,