Hungary spends 5% of its GDP on pronatalist policies including tax breaks for mothers of three, zero-interest housing loans, and cheap credit. Jim Penman says none of it works: the fertility rate remains stuck at 1.5 to 1.6 children per woman.
Hungary. Now Viktor Orbán over there, obviously they're trying to increase the birth rate and they're trying a lot of different incentives. Lifetime tax freedom, mothers of 3 children pay no income tax. They've got a bigger child allowance now, family tax relief doubles. There's apparently cheap credit and new zero-interest loans to help couples buy or upgrade their homes if they promise children. There's a mortgage shield, housing loan interest capped at 5% to cut monthly costs for young families as well. Those incentives, do you think they're going to work or they're not going to work? Nope.
They are absolutely not going to work at all. In fact, from what I've seen, they're spending 5% of their GDP on these things. It's not even budging. It's not even going up by like 1.5 to 1.6, as far as I can tell.
Rising mental illness and falling birth rates have the same cause, it is this.....
