IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/stanee/v50y1996i1p171-192.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring the costs of children: parametric and semiparametric estimators1

Author

Listed:
  • B. Melenberg
  • A. H. O. van Soest

Abstract

How much additional income does a family with four children need to attain the same welfare level as a family with two children? And how much does a single person need compared to a childless couple? These questions are important in applied micro‐economics and underlie public policy on, for example, social benefits and child allowances. In microeconomics, this is known as the problem of measuring equivalence scales. We estimate these scales using two types of subjective survey information. First, we use answers to survey questions on the income required to attain a given utility level. We compare the results for the usual linear model with semiparametric estimates, in which the functional form of the relationship between required income and family size and actual income is left unspecified. Second, we use answers to the question: how satisfied are you with actual household income? We present parametric and semiparametric estimates for ordered response models explaining this discrete variable. We find that according to the second type of information, costs of children are much larger than according to the first.

Suggested Citation

  • B. Melenberg & A. H. O. van Soest, 1996. "Measuring the costs of children: parametric and semiparametric estimators1," Statistica Neerlandica, Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research, vol. 50(1), pages 171-192, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:stanee:v:50:y:1996:i:1:p:171-192
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9574.1996.tb01486.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9574.1996.tb01486.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-9574.1996.tb01486.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Steven F. Koch, 2023. "Basic Needs (in)Security and Subjective Equivalence Scales," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 723-757, October.
    2. Bellemare, C. & Melenberg, B. & van Soest, A.H.O., 2002. "Semi-parametric Models for Satisfaction with Income," Other publications TiSEM a7ab8987-444a-4ab0-b566-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Charlier, E., 1997. "Equivalence Scales for the Former West Germany," Other publications TiSEM eed8f5af-8f69-445e-94df-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Melanie Borah, 2020. "Estimating Extended Income Equivalence Scales from Income Satisfaction and Time Use Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 687-718, June.
    5. Mamine, Fateh & Fares, M'hand & Minviel, Jean Joseph, 2020. "Contract Design for Adoption of Agrienvironmental Practices: A Meta-analysis of Discrete Choice Experiments," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    6. Melanie Borah & Carina Keldenich & Andreas Knabe, 2019. "Reference Income Effects in the Determination of Equivalence Scales Using Income Satisfaction Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(4), pages 736-770, December.
    7. Charles Bellemare & Bertrand Melenberg & Arthur van Soest van Soest, 2002. "Semi-parametric models for satisfaction with income," CeMMAP working papers 12/02, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    8. Vieira, José António Cabral, 2019. "Climbing the Ladders of Job Satisfaction and Employees' Organizational Commitment: A Semi-Nonparametric Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 12787, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Doremus, Jacqueline, 2020. "How does eco-label competition affect environmental benefits? The case of Central Africa's forests," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:stanee:v:50:y:1996:i:1:p:171-192. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0039-0402 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.