Selfish Reasons to
Have More Kids
Why Making More Libertarians Is Easier Than You Think
Bryan Caplan
Dep’t of Economics
Mercatus Center
George 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