NEWSWIRE: 5/22/18
- The share of the U.S. population who are mothers has dropped to the lowest level in a quarter-century. Whether families are choosing to have fewer kids or waiting longer to have kids, the demographic consequences will be long-lasting. (The Atlantic)
- NH: Woe to this once-renowned literary magazine: It pastes a click-bait title ("The Decline of American Motherhood") on an innumerate article. Sure, if you want to look at the sheer ratio of mothers as a share of all adult women, that has been declining over the last decade or two due to women giving birth at older ages. But if you want to look at the ratio of all women who have become or will become mothers by the end of their reproductive years--surely a more meaningful measure--that ratio is rising. Boomer women at age 45, first cohort to last, showed a sharp climb (nearly doubling, from 9% to 17%) in the share of childless women. More recently, Xer women are bringing that share back down. The biggest decline in childlessness (i.e., the biggest rise in motherhood) is occurring among highly educated unmarried women. Another driver of the decline is the growing share of Hispanic Xer women reaching midlife. Hispanic women are much less likely to be childless by age 45.
- Sales of frozen foods are on the rise for the first time in five years. Millennial dining habits may be key: More young adults today are single (and thus may opt for the simplicity of a frozen meal), and unlike their Boomer parents, Millennials welcome prepackaged, “safe” food options. (Bloomberg Business)
- NH: Frozen foods is a good news subplot in an otherwise gloomy CPG story. Nostalgic brands like Birds Eye and Stouffer's are enjoying a resurgence. And who would have imagined that Millennials tuning in to Netflix '80s-retro megahit Stranger Things would be seeking out Eggo waffles (the favorite food of Eleven)? Big Food is discovering that frozen, properly marketed, can actually attract consumers moving away from processing and additives. Plus, it will resist Amazon's new push into food delivery. The price of Pinnacle Foods (PF), now an acquisition target due to its ownership of several successful frozen brands (including Birds Eye), has recently surged.
- New research shows that the United States has fallen behind its peers in terms of life expectancy at birth since 1980, despite soaring health care costs over that period. Possible systemic explanations include everything from a lack of market competition (which would hold down prices) to a lack of universal health coverage (which would improve outcomes). (The New York Times)
- NH: Judging by America's ongoing large surplus in health care services with the rest of the world (which ought to make Trump happy), the U.S. health care system clearly offers--to anyone who can pay for it--the best acute-care medical treatment in the world. So why is our system failing so badly? Three reasons. First, a large share of Americans do not have access to this cutting-edge standard of care. Indeed, affordability is driving a large counterflow of Americans seeking big-ticket procedures abroad. Second, the U.S. system is extraordinarily inefficient, untransparent, and wasteful--burying its high-quality necessary care with layers of care that is either redundant or that has no demonstrated efficacy whatsoever. And third, because most overall wellness outcomes (like morbidity or longevity) are determined by population lifestyle, not quality of acute care, even access to the best medical providers cannot be expected to overcome bad diet, sedentary living, stress, and substance abuse. The following graphic speaks for itself.
- New apps like Pheramor and DNA Romance enable users to find their “perfect” romantic match by way of genetic analysis. While older generations may see such apps as cold and unfeeling, Millennials may consider them a pragmatic use of modern technology. (Cassandra Report)
- NH: Millennials are very attracted to a "science" that can relieve them from the burden of momentous personal choices--like choosing the "correct" portfolio or career or spouse. Witness the extraordinary popularity of A&E's Marriage at First Sight, a reality show premised on the ability of experts to engineer successful arranged marriages. These new matching services offer customers no scientific evidence supporting their claims that individual genomes are correlated with any pheromone or temperament differences that are in turn correlated with successful relationships. (A direct measurement of temperament differences, as per OCEAN or Myers-Briggs, has more science behind it.) No matter. Because DNA testing seems scientific and predictive, it takes the burden off these risk-averse young adults. Who can blame them? Their parents never told them that choosing the right spouse is a leap of faith for any generation.
- According to insiders, Facebook reportedly is planning to create its own cryptocurrency. What better way to get back into the good graces of consumers and investors than by dabbling in the ill-defined, often-nefarious world of cryptocurrency? (Cheddar)
- A new study finds that U.S. children and adolescents are taking fewer prescription medications today than they were in 1999. Behind this blanket decline, however, use of certain medications—such as ADHD meds—has risen over the same time period. (Journal of the American Medical Association)
- Fully 51% of Millennials say that Boomers have made things worse for them, the highest share of any generation. Above all else, young people evidently realize that massive outlays on Boomers’ pension plans and Social Security leave less money to support their own retirement. (Axios/SurveyMonkey)
- NH: Millennials may be warm and fuzzy about Boomers personally as their parents. But in assessing Boomers as a generation and their impact on national life, the Millennial verdict is brutal. No generation is nearly as negative. The next highest "worse" score comes from Xers--with their famous early '90s "die yuppie scum" motto. And their score is only 42%.
- The fast food industry is facing a severe shortage of teenage employees. The root of the shortage is largely generational: While Boomers and Xers would work a couple hours after school or during the summer to earn some extra cash, Millennials are focusing on their educational pursuits instead. (The New York Times)
- Fully 28% of Millennials believe that powering through stress is expected in their organization’s culture—compared to only 12% of Boomers. Millennials’ heightened burden of expectations may also be negatively impacting their job performance: Millennials (34%) are twice as likely as Boomers (19%) to say that stress has hindered their workplace productivity. (YouGov)
- The newly released Game of Life: Pets Edition allows players to adopt cats and dogs instead of children. This fitting bit of modernization could help win over a new generation of Millennial players who see their pets as children. (Bustle)
- NH: Game of Life has changed quite a bit since its first iteration, authored by Milton Bradley on the eve of the Civil War. Back then, the wrong spin could land players on squares named "Ruin," "Poverty," "Prison," and (yes, an instant game-ender) "Suicide."
DID YOU KNOW?
Content Creators Broadcast Their Global Ambitions. HBO’s newest hit takes place a long way from Westeros: Mamon, a teledrama set in the Czech Republic, often gets more viewers in the country than Game of Thrones. The project is part of HBO’s broader strategy to create original, country-specific content all across the globe. This year, the network plans to produce 250 hours of original programming for its foreign subscribers, a 40 percent boost from last year. HBO is not alone: Netflix last month revealed plans for seven separate European original series, while Amazon is hiring personnel to head its new international programming unit. What’s happening? In today’s cutthroat U.S. television landscape (see: “In TV’s ‘Golden Age,’ Profits Are Harder to Find”), global expansion offers a valuable added source of revenue. International shows also often attract a niche following in the United States—like HBO’s Wasteland, another Czech title that garners around 100,000 U.S. viewers per episode. There’s also the fact that each exclusive show that can be added to a streaming package provides yet more ammunition for the ongoing streaming “arms race.”
