If tithing had such a big effect, you would expect non-tithing folks to not have a corresponding decline.
You can't just compare it to declining birthrates for the population at large though: you have to compare to cultures with the same emphasis on large families that exists within Mormonism.
Other things have
One of those things being cost of living.
I'm sure it's not the only factor, but it has to be one of them.
This is the main factor, which is my point. Tithing as a percentage of your income has not gone up, but general cost of living has. So if one wants to do an analysis on what's causing the declining birth rate, it makes a lot more sense to focus on the factor that has increased and not on the one that hasn't.
Comments
You can't just compare it to declining birthrates for the population at large though: you have to compare to cultures with the same emphasis on large families that exists within Mormonism.
One of those things being cost of living.
I'm sure it's not the only factor, but it has to be one of them.
This is the main factor, which is my point. Tithing as a percentage of your income has not gone up, but general cost of living has. So if one wants to do an analysis on what's causing the declining birth rate, it makes a lot more sense to focus on the factor that has increased and not on the one that hasn't.