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When having many children pays: a case study from Taiwan

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  • Mun Lai

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate the direct financial cost and benefit of raising children during a demographic transition in Taiwan, and to examine whether fertility decline is consistent with Caldwell’s wealth flow theory, which states that fertility decline is caused by reduced benefits of children. The paper describes a method of estimating the average economic returns of children over the entire parental lifecycle, using a 42-year span of Taiwanese household and individual economic pseudo-panel data. Results show that returns to children may turn positive and are not highly negative all the time, as found in the previous literature. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Mun Lai, 2012. "When having many children pays: a case study from Taiwan," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(1), pages 323-348, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:25:y:2012:i:1:p:323-348
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-011-0373-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Jianchoun Dou, 2021. "Variety, Fertility, and Long-term Economic Growth," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2021020, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cost and benefit of children; Fertility; Familial transfers; J13; D10; I2;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

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