Costs of Children and Equivalence Scales: A Review of Methodological Issues and Australian Estimates

Estimates of the costs of children are used in the design of a wide range of economic and social policies. This paper provides a review of the different approaches that have been used to define the costs of a child and the estimation methods used. The paper summarises the results of Australian estim...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian journal of labour economics 2010, Vol.13 (1), p.99-115
Main Authors: Gray, Matthew, Stanton, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child care
Child support
Children & youth
Consumption
Cost and standard of living
Cost estimates
Costs
Estimates
Estimating techniques
Expenditures
Families & family life
Family income
Government policy
Households
Labor economics
Methodology
Parents & parenting
Social policy
Standard of living
Studies
Welfare
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Summary:Estimates of the costs of children are used in the design of a wide range of economic and social policies. This paper provides a review of the different approaches that have been used to define the costs of a child and the estimation methods used. The paper summarises the results of Australian estimates of the costs of children since 1985. An important conclusion is that there is no unambiguous 'true cost' of a child and that the estimated costs are sensitive to the estimation method used. One way of producing costs of children for policy purposes is to take the average of all available credible estimates. This approach is used in this paper.
ISSN:1328-1143