IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v64y2017icp22-31.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The economics of international child adoption: An analysis of adoptions by U.S. parents

Author

Listed:
  • Khun, Channary
  • Lahiri, Sajal

Abstract

The paper develops a two-period model of international child adoption by considering decision-making by a poor household and derive a number of testable predictions: the negative effect of income and the positive effect of household size on adoption. We provide supporting evidence based on a panel of U.S. adoptions from 178 countries during the last three decades. Our findings suggest that, on average, a one hundred-dollar increase in real per capita income in a sending nation reduces U.S. adoptions by three cases while a ten-million increase in child population raises adoptions by 18 cases.

Suggested Citation

  • Khun, Channary & Lahiri, Sajal, 2017. "The economics of international child adoption: An analysis of adoptions by U.S. parents," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 22-31.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:64:y:2017:i:c:p:22-31
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2016.07.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062976916300485
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.qref.2016.07.001?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blackstone, Erwin A. & Buck, Andrew J. & Hakim, Simon & Spiegel, Uriel, 2008. "Market segmentation in child adoption," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 220-225, September.
    2. Christopher Balding, 2010. "A Modest Proposal for a Two‐Sided Market Clearing Institution under Asymmetric Supply Constraints with Skewed Pricing: The Market for Adoption and Abortion in the United States," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 12(6), pages 1059-1080, December.
    3. Donald J. Boudreaux, 1995. "A Modest Proposal to Deregulate Infant Adoptions," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 15(1), pages 117-135, Spring/Su.
    4. Mariagiovanna Baccara & Allan Collard-Wexler & Leonardo Felli & Leeat Yariv, 2014. "Child-Adoption Matching: Preferences for Gender and Race," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 133-158, July.
    5. Jafarey, Saqib & Lahiri, Sajal, 2002. "Will trade sanctions reduce child labour?: The role of credit markets," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 137-156, June.
    6. Gulcin Gumus & Jungmin Lee, 2012. "Alternative Paths To Parenthood: Ivf Or Child Adoption?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 50(3), pages 802-820, July.
    7. Gennetian, Lisa A, 1999. "The Supply of Infants Relinquished for Adoption: Did Access to Abortion Make a Difference?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(3), pages 412-431, July.
    8. Baccini, Leonardo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2014. "International institutions and domestic politics: can preferential trading agreements help leaders promote economic reform?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 55608, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Medoff, Marshall H, 1993. "An Empirical Analysis of Adoption," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(1), pages 59-70, January.
    10. Saqib Jafarey & Sajal Lahiri, 2005. "Food for education versus school quality: a comparison of policy options to reduce child labour," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 394-419, May.
    11. Dilip Mookherjee & Silvia Prina & Debraj Ray, 2012. "A Theory of Occupational Choice with Endogenous Fertility," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 1-34, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Channary Khun & Sajal Lahiri & Sokchea Lim, 2020. "Why Do U.S. Parents Prefer Private To Foster Care Adoptions? The Role Of Adoption Subsidies, Gender, Race, And Special Needs," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(4), pages 1757-1782, October.
    2. Bethmann, Dirk & Kvasnicka, Michael, 2022. "A Theory of Child Adoption," Journal of Economic Development, The Economic Research Institute, Chung-Ang University, vol. 47(2), pages 101-114, June.
    3. Edmonds, Eric V., 2008. "Child Labor," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 57, pages 3607-3709, Elsevier.
    4. Sarbajit Chaudhuri & Jayanta Kumar Dwibedi, 2017. "Foreign Direct Investment and Domestic Child Labor," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 383-403, May.
    5. Moriguchi, Chiaki, 2012. "The Evolution of Child Adoption in the United States, 1950-2010—An Economic Analysis of Historical Trends—," Economic Review, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 63(3), pages 265-285, July.
    6. repec:zbw:rwirep:0342 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Ralitza Dimova & Gil S. Epstein & Ira N. Gang, 2015. "Migration, Transfers and Child Labor," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 735-747, August.
    8. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit, 2014. "Does Public Assistance for Skills Formation Necessarily Improve Wage Inequality in the Future?," MPRA Paper 57788, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Dirk Bethmann & Michael Kvasnicka, 2012. "A Theory of Child Adoption," Ruhr Economic Papers 0342, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    10. Mary Hansen, 2007. "Using Subsidies to Promote the Adoption of Children from Foster Care," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 377-393, September.
    11. George‐Levi Gayle & Limor Golan & Mehmet A. Soytas, 2018. "Estimation of dynastic life‐cycle discrete choice models," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(3), pages 1195-1241, November.
    12. Elias Dinopoulos & Laixun Zhao, 2007. "Child Labor and Globalization," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(3), pages 553-579.
    13. Thakurata, Indrajit & D'Souza, Errol, 2018. "Child labour and human capital in developing countries - A multi-period stochastic model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 67-81.
    14. Dumas, Christelle, 2013. "Market Imperfections and Child Labor," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 127-142.
    15. Patrick M. Emerson & Shawn D. Knabb, 2007. "Fiscal Policy, Expectation Traps, And Child Labor," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 45(3), pages 453-469, July.
    16. Michele Di Maio & Giorgio Fabbri, 2013. "Consumer boycott, household heterogeneity, and child labor," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 1609-1630, October.
    17. Sarbajit Chaudhuri, 2010. "Mid‐Day Meal Program And Incidence Of Child Labour In A Developing Economy," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 61(2), pages 252-265, June.
    18. Fabre, Alice & Pallage, Stéphane, 2015. "Child labor, idiosyncratic shocks, and social policy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 394-411.
    19. Basu, Kaushik, 2003. "Policy Dilemmas for Controlling Child Labor," Working Papers 03-11, Cornell University, Center for Analytic Economics.
    20. Burhan, Nik Ahmad Sufian & Sidek, Abdul Halim & Ibrahim, Saifuzzaman, 2016. "Eradicating the Crime of Child Labour in Africa: The Roles of Income, Schooling, Fertility, and Foreign Direct Investment," MPRA Paper 77250, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Basu, Kaushik & Zarghamee, Homa, 2005. "Is Product Boycott a Good Idea for Controlling Child Labor?," Working Papers 05-14, Cornell University, Center for Analytic Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child adoption; International adoptions; Adoptions in the U.S.; Welfare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

    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:eee:quaeco:v:64:y:2017:i:c:p:22-31. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620167 .

    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.