Fewer Kids? Blame Safety Nazis

The title above is only half in jest.  This from Insty:

Also: car seats as contraception: “Since 1977, U.S. states have passed laws steadily raising the age for which a child must ride in a car safety seat. These laws significantly raise the cost of having a third child, as many regular-sized cars cannot fit three child seats in the back.* Using census data and state-year variation in laws, we estimate that when women have two children of ages requiring mandated car seats, they have a lower annual probability of giving birth by 0.73 percentage points. Consistent with a causal channel, this effect is limited to third child births, is concentrated in households with access to a car, and is larger when a male is present (when both front seats are likely to be occupied). We estimate that these laws prevented only 57 car crash fatalities of children nationwide in 2017. Simultaneously, they led to a permanent reduction of approximately 8,000 births in the same year, and 145,000 fewer births since 1980, with 90% of this decline being since 2000.”

*Actually, none of the crossovers can fit three of those monsters across, either.

We'll skip the "When I was a baby" stories.  But we can tell you that our children rode in seat-belts (no more than that) from age 6 up.  Legally.  And the big bulky baby seat?  Only two of them at any time, and you COULD fit three into the back seat. 

No fatalities, not even a bruise.