Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids

Why Making More Libertarians Is Easier Than You Think

Bryan CaplanDep’t of Economics

Mercatus CenterGeorge Mason University

Main Claims of My New Book• Parents are far from miserable, but

they do endure a lot of needless unhappiness – especially today.

• Why “needless”? Because contrary to almost everyone, upbringing/ nature/parenting has little long-run effect on children.

• Traits do run in families, but the reason is almost entirely heredity/ nature/genes.

• How do we know? Adoption and twin research. – If families adopt, any family similarity probably

reflects nurture. Adoption studies find little long-run resemblance.

– If identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins, excess similarity probably reflects nature. Twin studies find identical twins are much more similar than fraternal twins.

Quick Life Lessons for Parents

• Life Lesson #1: Lighten up. – Focus on enjoying the

journey, not molding your child into your preferred shape.

• Life Lesson #2: Have more kids. – The kids you want are

cheaper than you think, so stock up.

Nature, Nurture, and Politics, I

• My book covers adoption and twin research on all the main traits parents hope to foster: health, intelligence, happiness, success, character, values, and appreciation.

• To get a feel for the evidence, let’s focus on a subset of values that everyone here cares about: politics.

• Politics clearly run in families. But why?

The Friedmans: Nature or Nurture?

Milton Friedman, father of David Friedman, father of Patri Friedman

Nature, Nurture, and Politics, II• Twin researchers do find a large nurture effect for

which party you say you belong to.• But for deeper measures – whether you vote, how

you vote, and your actual issue positions – nature is usually considerably more important.

• Nature, nurture, and issue positions: Massive twin study by Alford et al, “Are Political Orientations Genetically Transmitted?” APSR 2005.– Intuitively, “heritability” is correlation between identical

twins raised apart; “shared environment” is correlation between adoptees raised together.

– Issues with clear libertarian position highlighted.

Making Libertarians• Adoption and twin research is especially hopeful if

you’re “weird” – and want your kids to be weird with you.

• Why? Because weird parents tend to have weird kids, whether or not they actively educate/brainwash them.

• If you’re here, you’re probably weirdly libertarian. Genetics alone will tend to make your kids libertarian.

• General principle: The best way to change your kids is to find a spouse who resembles the kids you want to have.

• Application: Want to hedge your bets for libertarian kids? Find a libertarian spouse.

Natalism for Liberty• I’m aiming my book at a general audience, but it is both

realistic and desirable for my themes to become conventional wisdom among libertarians.

• Realistic: Libertarians are already unusually open to… – Using econ in daily life.– Politically incorrect science.– The idea that intentions do not equal results.

• Desirable: Libertarians who take me seriously will…– Avoid lots of unnecessary parental unhappiness.– Create more awesome people to enjoy future seminars.– Increase the frequency of libertarian genes – and the long-run

prospects for liberty.• Moral: Having more kids is a great way for libertarians to do

good while doing well.

On sale April 12, 2011

from Basic Books