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Costs of children and Equivalence Scales: A Review of Methodological Issues and Australian Estimates

Author

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  • Matthew Gray

    (Australian Institute for Family Studies)

  • David Stanton

    (The Australian National University)

Abstract

Estimates of the costs of children are used in the design of a wide range of economic and social policies. This paper provides a review of the different approaches that have been used to define the costs of a child and the estimation methods used. The paper summarises the results of Australian estimates of the costs of children since 1985. An important conclusion is that there is no unambiguous ‘true cost’ of a child and that the estimated costs are sensitive to the estimation method used. One way of producing costs of children for policy purposes is to take the average of all available credible estimates. This approach is used in this paper.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:13:y:2010:i:1:p:99-115
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Tess Penne & Tine Hufkens & Tim Goedemé & Bérénice Storms, 2018. "To what extent do welfare states compensate for the cost of children? A hypothetical household approach to policy evaluations," Working Papers 1811, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    3. Ivica Urban & Martina Pezer, 2020. "Compensation for Households with Children in Croatia, Slovenia and Austria," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 203-235, January.
    4. Gerlinde Verbist & Wim Van Lancker, 2016. "Horizontal and Vertical Equity Objectives of Child Benefit Systems: An Empirical Assessment for European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 1299-1318, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Measurement and Analysis of Poverty; Household Behaviour and Family Economics: Other; Welfare Economics: General;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • D19 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Other
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General

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