Second most read article in the last two week in e-Ney York Times was one on married couples falling into minority in the US. In many countries, including Poland more and more people choose to delay marriage and put carrier first, we call them urban singles generation. Singles and unmarried couples do not have children as often as married couples.

This life path is understandable. Emergence of the global labour market raised the return on education, so it does make sens from the individual point of view to study first, to gain on-the-job experience first, to get MBA and only then think about second half of the apple or orange. However, when one aggregates this optimal decision plans across generation, especially in Europe, which is aging very rapidly, then the outcome is low birth rate and even faster aging process with possibly dramatic concequences for public finances in many European countries.

In order to solve this puzzle we need more labor mobility across borders or policy actions that would alter the optimal life paths for individuals. And I would not count much on young generation loyalty, we raised you in country X so please pay high taxes in country X to prevent old generation from starving. This could work only in a traditional family model, when a beloved child takes financial care of her parents, buy not on agreagate. Think of 1 million Poles that left the country and found better paid jobs in the EU, will they return to pay taxes to keep the living standard of the old Polish generation. Or should we really fast allow well educated citizens of Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Asia, Africa to move to Poland to increase our ability to face the problems of aging and changing family model.