Hi, I'm Dean Spears.

We provide the first evidence that individual-level questions find more open defecation than household-level questions.

According to Ex-Post Average Utilitarianism, prospect 𝑋 is at least as good as prospect 𝑌 if and only if the expected average well-being is at least as great in 𝑋 as in 𝑌. We show that Ex-Post Average Utilitarianism can oppose the interests of all affected people.

Pritchett (1994) influentially examined the relationship between survey-reported ideal fertility and period total fertility rates. Pritchett’s analyses found that country-period by countryperiod differences in fertility preferences could statistically account for the majority of the variation in period total fertility rates. This result was impactful because it suggested that preferences, rather than constraints such as contraceptive access, explain fertility outcomes.

The United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has made understanding the impact of abortion laws increasingly important and timely. We investigate recent claims by policymakers that abortion restrictions increase birth rates; we also evaluate consequences for human capital and women’s welfare.

The size of the human population is projected to peak in the 21st century. But quantitative projections past 2100 are rare, and none quantify the possibility of a rebound from low fertility to replacement-level fertility. Here we provide updated long-term cohort-component population projections and extend the set of scenarios in the literature to include scenarios in which future fertility (a) stays below replacement or (b) recovers and increases.

Americans aren’t just waiting longer to have kids and having fewer once they start—they’re less likely to have any at all.

The global human population has been climbing for the past two centuries. But what is normal for all of us alive today — growing up while the world is growing rapidly — may be a blip in human history.

How do you value a life not yet lived?

It may be time to move on from the Repugnant Conclusion.

In this episode of the 80,000 hours podcast, host Luisa Rodriguez speaks to Dean Spears — associate professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin and founding director of r.i.c.e. — about his experience implementing a surprisingly low-tech but highly cost-effective kangaroo mother care programme in Uttar Pradesh, India to save the lives of vulnerable newborn infants.

We provide the first evidence that individual-level questions find more open defecation than household-level questions.

Josephine Duh & Dean Spears of the r.i.c.e institute present their research on the relationship between increasing average wealth and decreasing average calorie consumption in India.