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What Is The Income "Cost Of A Child"? Exact Equivalence Scales For Canadian Two-Parent Families

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  • Shelley A. Phipps

Abstract

This note asks: "How much income does it take to preserve the prechild standard of living for all members of the postchild household?" Equivalence scales for Canadian two-parent families are estimated using a complete demand system approach and imposing the condition of equivalence scale exactness/independent of a base (Blackorby and Donaldson (1993), Lewbel (1989)). This approach has several advantages: (1) It is formally grounded in economic theory. (2) The income required for children can be estimated without ignoring the well-being of the children themselves. (3) The estimates obtained appear reasonable relative to others currently available in the literature. © 1998 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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  • Shelley A. Phipps, 1998. "What Is The Income "Cost Of A Child"? Exact Equivalence Scales For Canadian Two-Parent Families," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(1), pages 157-164, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:80:y:1998:i:1:p:157-164
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Parent & Ling Wang, 2007. "Tax incentives and fertility in Canada: quantum vs tempo effects," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(2), pages 371-400, May.
    2. Matthew Brzozowski & Thomas F. Crossley, 2011. "Viewpoint: Measuring the well‐being of the poor with income or consumption: a Canadian perspective," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 88-106, February.
    3. Tammy Schirle, 2015. "The effect of universal child benefits on labour supply," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(2), pages 437-463, May.
    4. Brian W. Gould, 2002. "Household composition and food expenditures in China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(3), pages 387-407.
    5. Gould, Brian W. & Sabates, Ricardo, 2001. "The Structure Of Food Demand In Urban China: A Demand System Approach," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20778, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Edith Duclos & Pierre Lefebvre & Philip Merrigan, 2001. "A 'Natural Experiment' on the Economics of Storks: Evidence on the Impact of Differential Family Policy on Fertility Rates in Canada," Cahiers de recherche CREFE / CREFE Working Papers 136, CREFE, Université du Québec à Montréal.
    7. Ulman Paweł, 2012. "Equivalence Scale in Terms of Polish Households' Source of Income," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 10(2), pages 114-127, January.
    8. White, Howard & Masset, Edoardo, 2002. "Child poverty in Vietnam: using adult equivalence scales to estimate income-poverty for different age groups," MPRA Paper 777, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Wenying Li & Jeffrey H. Dorfman, 2021. "Intrahousehold Economies of Scale with Application to Food Assistance and Work Incentive Programs," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(4), pages 1251-1267, August.
    10. Yo Chul Choi & David Hummels & Chong Xiang, 2006. "Explaining Import Variety and Quality: The Role of the Income Distribution," NBER Working Papers 12531, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Gould, Brian W. & Lee, Yoonjung & Dong, Diansheng & Villarreal, Hector J., 2002. "Household Size And Composition Impacts On Meat Demand In Mexico: A Censored Demand System Approach," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19722, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    12. Gould, Brian W. & Yen, Steven T., 2002. "Food Demand In Mexico: A Quasi-Maximum Likelihood Approach," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19667, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Urvashi Dhawan-Biswal, 2002. "Consumption and Income Inequality: The Case of Atlantic Canada from 1969­1996," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(4), pages 513-537, December.
    14. Perali, Federico, 2008. "The second Engel law: Is it a paradox?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(8), pages 1353-1377, November.
    15. Alois Guger & Reiner Buchegger & Hedwig Lutz & Christine Mayrhuber & Michael Wüger, 2003. "Schätzung der direkten und indirekten Kinderkosten," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 24078, April.
    16. Aline Bütikofer, 2012. "Semiparametric Base-Independent Equivalence Scales and the Cost of Children in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 148(I), pages 1-35, March.
    17. Garcia-Diaz Rocio, 2012. "Demand-Based Cost-of-Children Estimates and Child Poverty," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-32, January.
    18. Kevin Milligan, 2005. "Subsidizing the Stork: New Evidence on Tax Incentives and Fertility," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(3), pages 539-555, August.
    19. Toshinobu Matsuda, 2005. "Differential Demand Systems: A Further Look at Barten's Synthesis," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(3), pages 607-619, January.
    20. Majumder, Amita & Chakrabarty, Manisha, 2003. "Relative cost of children: the case of rural Maharashtra, India," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 61-76, January.

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