With a woman at a look at culture from a Christian worldview, I'm John Stone Shrieg with the point.

As researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research found there was an unintended

side effect of COVID-19, a slight increase in U.S. fertility rates, while births among

foreign-born mothers declined early in the pandemic a baby bump among U.S. born mothers

materialized in 2021, particularly impacted were women most able to work from home.

A CNN's Alicia Wallace wrote this trend counteracts, a long-standing economic certainty that

birth rates don't increase during economic downturns.

Unfortunately, the boost only erased about two years of declining fertility rates, but

it's a nice exception to what's been a steady decline, like the increase among Nordic

countries that upends conventional cultural and economic wisdom.

More importantly, we need to upend the idea that kids are burdens that diminish adult

happiness.

Families are absolutely vital in combating loneliness, creating economic stability, and

giving people a lasting sense of purpose.

In other words, the stronger that family life is, the better that life is.

For individuals and societies, for the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.