[Zigurd]

Why is it a crisis for populations to decline to levels of the first half of the 20th century? The world worked just fine back then with that number of people.

There are problems that arise from a population that contains a lot of old people, but that's a problem that fixes itself in a few decades, and balance will be restored.

Pick one crisis: no jobs, or no people.

[zamadatix]

The age distribution is most of the problem. It doesn't help to have a lot of people who need somebody else to be working at the hospital for them. If you skip straight past looking at the period if imbalance the situation looks a lot better.

[saulpw]

But what if those people at the hospital have a lot of money? I'd rather disperse it to healthcare workers than give more inheritance to their children.

[zamadatix]

I mean that's great in concept but it doesn't really help the core problem there will be more older people no longer working(or outputting as much if they do)/needing extra support than the other way around as it was when it was population growth times with the same total population. Not just the ultra wealthy are going to output less or need healthcare more either.

[BehindBlueEyes]

Maybe this is true if you only look at paid labor, but there are other ways in which elders add value to society, as they do a lot of invisiblized unpaid work. Their pensions play a role in supporting the economy, as much as people seem to only think of pensions as a burden to source and rarely as supporting the economy when it gets spent.

[simonsquiff]

The same number of people, but on the way up and growing, compared to on the way down and shrinking, is very different.

[AngryData]

Because current economic policies and capitalism rely on a continuously expanding economy. If the population grows, the economy will continue to expand, if the population doesn't grow then much of the capital class starts to lose money on investments that never materialize.

It is not really a problem for the regular working class citizen, and historically population drops have improved wages and labor rights. See things like the black plague or wars with large casualties, which resulted in significant population drops which gives more power and leverage to the labor class.

[vivzkestrel]

stupid question: if by some magic 80% of the population of the planet disappeared tomorrow, what ll happen to the economy and stock market

[_menelaus]

If nothing is done they will go extinct.

[triceratops]

Seems unlikely. Straight-line predictions almost never pan out.

[heisgone]

Because the economy is un ponzi scheme and without young people to pay for old people and old debts, it fails.