&gt; And how do you propose that would happen?<p>If the social safety net becomes weaker (which one would expect if its current strength becomes demographically untenable), then immediate family in the next generation <i>becomes</i> the dominant personal safety net, and larger family sizes are incentivized (its basically one of the processes that led to declining birth rates in the developed world running in reverse, as social safety nets weaken rather than strengthening.)<p>Note that I&#x27;m not saying this is painless, as its a social change which is <i>very</i> slow and lagging the driving force.