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Notes -
I like your term 'k-selection spiral'. But I want to point out you're looking at it wrong in terms of resources. It's not 'amount' of resources, it's 'how they're distributed'. People in the literal poorest countries in the world have lots and lots of children, and they live in like Niger and Chad. You see fertility bumps around oil towns and military bases, too, because young women's best economic prospect is to marry a man employed by the thing that makes their town notable.
Are you sure those "fertility bumps" in oil towns and military bases don't go away when age-adjusted?
Yeah, people in poor countries have lots of children. They don't have to put them in the best daycares or supervise them 24/7 until they're in school, or any of the other things Westerners do.
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