How has policy affected the trajectory of European and U.S. demographics?
I certainly think the enlargement of Europe, countries’ reaction to the Schengen Agreement, and immigration within Europe has started to change European demography tremendously. There was an article recently in the newspaper describing Ireland as a “rainbow country.” So, in some sense, Europe is beginning to look a little more like the U.S. The U.S. had its own monumental demographic event in 1965, when the new immigration laws were passed. They had the effect of opening up the country to the rest of the world, whereas previously U.S. laws had pretty much favored the traditional sending countries, mainly Europe. At the time, that change was not seen as significant as it really turned out to be. Without it, the U.S. today would probably not have the level of immigration from those “non-traditional” places like Asia and Latin America. What will be the geopolitical implications of low fertility in Europe? First of all, it’s never happened in history. The only thing that caused such tremen
