The fertility rate in the United States, after peaking in 1957 at about 3-1/2 births over a woman’s lifetime, fell to less than 2 by the early 1970s and then rose to about 2.1 by 1990.1 Since then, the fertility rate has remained close to 2.1, the so-called replacement rate that is, the level of the fertility rate required to hold the population constant in the absence of immigration or changes in longevity.
If such market situation persists, it may affect corporate financing accordingly. In fact, downward revision of earnings involving restructuring is spreading in the corporate sector and there is a risk that capital spending will be depressed further.