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The Weeds: Teen births are plummeting — and economists are judging your Christmas gifts

If all you wanted for Christmas was an in-depth discussion of the falling teen birth rate, well, you are in luck!

Teen births in US are plummeting

Since 2007, the teen birth rate in the United States has declined 42 percent. So this week, Matt, Ezra, and I spend a lot of time trying to understand why that change happened, and what type of policies could encourage even more decline in the future.

We also talk about Hillary Clinton's pledge to the middle class — she defines it as Americans who earn less than $250,000 — and what type of constraints that puts on policy-making.

Last, but certainly not least, we have what is now my all-time favorite discussion on the Weeds: why economists generally think Christmas gifts are a bad idea.

Small programming note: the Weeds will be off next week for the New Year's holiday, but back on Jan. 8. As always, you can email us here here and subscribe on iTunes. See you in 2016!

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