A declining world population isn’t a looming catastrophe. It could actually bring some good.

Note that full employment as a concept carries political weight, because economists tend to say there is a “natural” unemployment rate of around 5 percent, and if this rate goes lower, it’s bad for … profits, basically. If unemployment dips below 5 percent, the thinking goes, the labor market tightens and the stock market gets depressed, because there is more competition for workers, and higher wages need to be offered to grab available workers, so profits drop, and inflation might occur, etc.