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The Measurement of Child Costs: A Rothbarth-Type Method Consistent with Scale Economies

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  • Bargain, Olivier B.

    (Université de Bordeaux)

  • Donni, Olivier

    (University of Cergy-Pontoise)

Abstract

We propose a new methodology to estimate the share of household income accruing to children (i.e., the cost of children). Following the principle of the Rothbarth approach, the identification of the children's share requires the observation of at least one adult-specific good. However, our method differs from this traditional approach in that it allows measuring economies of scale in the household and indifference scales in Lewbel (2003)'s sense. We illustrate the method with an application on the French Household Budget Survey.

Suggested Citation

  • Bargain, Olivier B. & Donni, Olivier, 2009. "The Measurement of Child Costs: A Rothbarth-Type Method Consistent with Scale Economies," IZA Discussion Papers 4654, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4654
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Laurens Cherchye & Bram De Rock & Arthur Lewbel & Frederic Vermeulen, 2015. "Sharing Rule Identification for General Collective Consumption Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83(5), pages 2001-2041, September.
    2. Olivier Bargain & Olivier Donni, 2012. "Targeting and child poverty," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 39(4), pages 783-808, October.
    3. Geoffrey R. Dunbar & Arthur Lewbel & Krishna Pendakur, 2021. "Identification of Random Resource Shares in Collective Households Without Preference Similarity Restrictions," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 402-421, March.
    4. R. Bollinger, Christopher & Nicoletti, Cheti & Pudney, Stephen, 2012. "Two can live as cheaply as one… but three’s a crowd," ISER Working Paper Series 2012-10, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    5. Alessandro Balestrino, 2015. "Family Taxation, Fertility, and Horizontal Equity," Public Finance Review, , vol. 43(3), pages 402-427, May.
    6. Casco José L., 2022. "Intra-household Resource Shares under Poverty Transfers: Evidence from Ecuador," Working Papers 2022-03, Banco de México.
    7. Bargain, Olivier & Donni, Olivier & Kwenda, Prudence, 2014. "Intrahousehold distribution and poverty: Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 262-276.
    8. Christopher R. Bollinger & Cheti Nicoletti & Stephen Pudney, 2012. "Two can live as cheaply as one... But three's a crowd," Discussion Papers 12/23, Department of Economics, University of York.
    9. Hori, Masahiro, 2011. "The expenditure on children in Japan," CIS Discussion paper series 527, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    10. Olivier Bargain & Olivier Donni & Monnet Gbakou, 2010. "The Measurement of Child Costs: Evidence from Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 41(1), pages 1-20.
    11. Arthur Lewbel & Krishna Pendakur, 2022. "Inefficient Collective Households: Cooperation and Consumption," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(645), pages 1882-1893.
    12. Olivier Bargain & Olivier Donni & Prudence Kwenda, 2011. "Intrahousehold Distribution and Child Poverty: Theory and Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire," Working Papers 2011-031, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    13. Olivier Bargain & Laurine Martinoty, 2019. "Crisis at home: mancession-induced change in intrahousehold distribution," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 277-308, January.
    14. Bargain, Olivier B. & Donni, Olivier & Magejo, Prudence, 2011. "Intrahousehold Distribution and Child Poverty: Theory and Evidence from Côte d’Ivoire," IZA Discussion Papers 6029, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rothbarth method; consumer demand; cost of children; scale economies; indifference scales; equivalence scales; collective model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • C30 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - General
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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