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The Impact of Children on Australian Couples' Wealth Accumulation

Author

Listed:
  • Alfred Michael Dockery

    (School of Economics and Finance, Curtin University)

  • Sherry Bawa

    (School of Economics and Finance, Curtin University)

Abstract

Existing estimates of the cost of raising children mainly focus on what parents spend on their children. This paper challenges the conceptual basis for this approach, and instead investigates how the presence of children impacts upon couples’ wealth accumulation using the life-cycle approach and Australian household panel data. Both the results presented here for Australia and those contained in the existing literature suggest that raising a family has a very small impact upon wealth accumulation relative to the ‘cost’ implied from expenditure-based estimates. In reconciling these highly divergent estimates, we argue the estimates from the wealth approach make more intuitive sense on a number of fronts, with implications for families and policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Alfred Michael Dockery & Sherry Bawa, 2013. "The Impact of Children on Australian Couples' Wealth Accumulation," Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Working Paper series WP1302, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:bcecwp:wp1302
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. Matthew Gray & David Stanton, 2010. "Costs of children and Equivalence Scales: A Review of Methodological Issues and Australian Estimates," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 13(1), pages 99-115.
    8. Banks, James & Blundell, Richard & Preston, Ian, 1994. "Life-cycle expenditure allocations and the consumption costs of children," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 1391-1410, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Michelle Maroto, 2018. "Saving, Sharing, or Spending? The Wealth Consequences of Raising Children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2257-2282, December.
    2. Zachary Winkle & Christiaan Monden, 2022. "Family Size and Parental Wealth: The Role of Family Transfers in Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(3), pages 401-428, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    children; family; wealth; lifecycle model; savings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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