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Does Large Family Size Reduce Investment in Children? The Realities of the Quantity-Quality Trade-Off Theory

Does Large Family Size Reduce Investment in Children? The Realities of the Quantity-Quality Trade-Off Theory. Carolyn Fox- ECON 428- 10/5/2010. Why it Should: Becker’s Model. Fertility and Child Quality. Fertility Endogenous vs Exogenous Child Quality Inputs Educational Attainment

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Does Large Family Size Reduce Investment in Children? The Realities of the Quantity-Quality Trade-Off Theory

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  1. Does Large Family Size Reduce Investment in Children?The Realities of the Quantity-Quality Trade-Off Theory Carolyn Fox- ECON 428- 10/5/2010

  2. Why it Should: Becker’s Model

  3. Fertility and Child Quality • Fertility • Endogenous vs Exogenous • Child Quality Inputs • Educational Attainment • Child Health

  4. The Reality: Do Large Families have Lower-Quality Children? It Depends… “Wherever fertility has fallen substantially, the relationship between family size and child schooling is found to be negative” (Bhat, 2002). “Many studies fail to uncover statistically significant links; those that do usually reveal small impacts” (Kelley, 1994). … on what?

  5. Development Levels: The Urban-Rural Gap • Developed countries help ease the burden of children. • In rural China, negative relationship between family size and child quality. • Relationship negligible in urban China (Li,2008).

  6. Gender-Based Resource Allocation • Indonesia: girls less likely to survive childhood, attend school (Jensen and Ahlburg, 2002). • India: family size has negative effect on completion of primary-level schooling, especially in girls (Bhat, 2002).

  7. Birth Order: Conflicting Results • China: Older children typically receive greatest educational attainment (Li, 2008) • India: First-borns most affected by negative relationship between family size and educational attainment (Bhat, 2002).

  8. Exogenous Shock:Unwantedness • Unwanted children result in a lower quality children (Jensen and Ahlburg, 2002) • More likely to become ill and less likely to receive treatment. • Lower educational attainment.

  9. Contrary Evidence • Indonesia: parents who are constrained by resources sacrifice in other areas of life to provide for large families (Jensen and Ahlburg, 2002) . • India: Exogenous mortality shock in agrarian societies (Bhat, 2002).

  10. Summary • Fertility reduction is a proximate determinant of child quality. • Resource constraints affect investment capabilities in children at some level. • Strong evidence of desire for higher quality future generations (Bhat, 2002). • Strongest evidence of quality-quantity trade-off found in girls. • More research needed.

  11. Policy Implications • Effective policy is Directed Policy: • LDC’s • Rural areas • Perceived value of girls

  12. References • REFERENCES • Bhat, P. N. Mari (2002), "Returning a Favor: Reciprocity between Female Education and Fertility in India", World Development v30, n10 (October 2002): 1791-1803. • Jensen, Eric R. and Dennis A. Ahlburg, (2002), “Family Size; Unwantedness, and Child Health and Health Care Utilization in Indonesia", in Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Vol. 38, No. 1, 2002, pp. 43-59. • Kelley, Allen C. (1996), "The Consequences of Rapid Population Growth on Human Resource Development: The Case of Education", in The Impact of Population Growth on Well-Being in Developing Countries, Dennis A. Ahlburg, Allen C. Kelley and Karen Oppenheim Mason (editors), Springer Verlag, New York, 1996, pp. 67-138. • Li, Hongbin; Junsen Zhang; and Yi Zhu, (2008), "The Quantity-Quality Tradeoff of Children in a Developing Country: Identification Using Chinese Twins", Demography, Vol. 45-Number 1, February , pp. 223-243. (Consider only pp. 223-224; 234; and 239.)

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