Big Ideas centers on a focused topic or theme, inviting us to examine it from multiple angles and think carefully about its implications. Attendees engage with a text set ahead of time and come prepared to discuss the topic together. Text sets include a mix of podcasts, articles, and/or videos and are designed to take about 2–3 hours total to complete.
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Total time: 2.5 hours
Video/Podcast: 27 minutes | Transcript
Published: November 15, 2024
While this source is a video, there aren't really significant visuals, so you could listen to it as a podcast.
Podcast: 60 minutes
Published: June 13, 2023
No printable transcript available, but you can view an AI-generated transcript on Spotify.
Podcast: 30 minutes | Transcript
Published: July 10, 2025
Note: Access to the podcast requires a subscription to the Atlantic. If you don't have one, you can just do a quick read through the transcript (linked above), which is thankfully presented in an easy-to-read format!
Podcast: 30 minutes | Transcript
Published: September 5, 2024
Pew Adults Without Children Survey.pdfKey insights are on PDF pages 6-13 (report pages 5-12).
This report examines why many adults remain childfree, whether by choice or circumstance, and how they feel about that decision over time. It explores themes such as personal fulfillment, economic constraints, partnership timing, and changing cultural expectations about parenthood.
Having children_ What Americans think about declining fertility rates _ Pew Research Center.pdfThis short article explores how Americans view declining birth rates and whether they see fewer people having children as a problem for society. It also examines differences in opinion by age, gender, political affiliation, and income, and highlights which public policies people believe might encourage childbearing.
If you enjoyed listening to dempographer expert Jennifer Sciubba in the required video/podcast "The Global Baby Bust" (above), you can listen to her speak at greater length in this episde of The Ezra Klein Show! Together they explore the global decline in birth rates and ask whether falling population levels should be viewed as a crisis or an opportunity. Sciubba argues that societies may need to adapt their economic systems, immigration policies, and expectations about growth rather than trying to reverse demographic trends.
This episode of The Ezra Klein Show was published March 19, 2024 in The New York Times.
If you do not have a NYTimes subscription, you can read a transcript of the interview here.
The End of Children _ The New Yorker.pdfThis long-form article offers an immersive case study of South Korea, the country with the world’s lowest birth rate, and examines the cultural, economic, and gender dynamics shaping family decisions there. Through vivid reporting, it raises questions about whether extreme fertility decline could foreshadow broader global trends. This article can give you a more grounded sense of how demographic change reshapes everyday life and social institutions.
Published February 24, 2025 in The New Yorker.
This episode introduces a novel economic theory suggesting that fertility decline may partly result from an “arms race” in parenting, as families feel pressure to invest more time and money in each child. The discussion explores how status competition, education costs, and intensive parenting norms may unintentionally discourage larger families.
Published November 6, 2025 by The Brookings Institution
