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Today I would like to talk about two demographic issues, both of which may have far-reaching effects in the United States and neither of which is well-understood. The first of these is infertility, which has received extensive but often ill-considered attention in the press and other forms of popular media. The second issue is related, although the connections are not immediately apparent. This issue is the changing size of successive generations of mothers, daughters, and granddaughters, and how such change affects the family. This subject has thus far received little attention, but is also likely to have far-reaching consequences because demographic change has altered the boundaries of the expectations and obligations that parents and children have for one another.

Let me begin with the issue of infertility and what is said about it in the popular media. I use the term infertility to mean reduced ability to conceive and …