Economics of the family

This work empirically determined the effect of the household structure around the participation of women in the labor market and in the decisions of fecundity in Colombia by considering the structure of the household as a cost proxy of the children raise and as an exploration of the care model of our society. It is studied the effect between mothers with children at pre-school age in urban and rural areas in Colombia, using data from the National demography and Health Survey, 2010. The empirical analysis is based on the estimation of a biprobit model on the participation of women in the labor market and on the fecundity decisions. As a result, it is expected that: 1) when women have at their disposition someone to care for their pre-school children care, they have a higher probability of participating in the labor market; 2) when women have at their disposition a public institution of child care, their probability of participating in the labor market increases substantially; 3) when women have at their disposition someone to care for their pre-school children, they have a lower probability of having more than one little child.

It is often argued that in a developing country scenario couples generally cannot plan their family size well in advance with a calculation of net lifetime return of schooling. Therefore question arises, whether quantity-quality trade-off is actually occurs within the fertility decision making process or not. Rural and illiterate couples are more disadvantageous situation and it is therefore imperative to know their fertility intention or what exactly they thought of having or not having a child. The results of primary survey data show that most of the couple doesn't plan their fertility. Findings suggests that only schooling aspiration for children generally do not influence the couples to stop child bearing, so even if child schooling decision is influencing the fertility decision the proportion of couple doing so is small. Thus, quantity affects the quality, but desire to improve quality is not reducing quantity, though younger couple is showing some hope.

In spite of modernization and women’s increasing role in the market economy, the practice of dowry in India is becoming more wide spread evidences shows that, the value of dowry is increasing. In India marriage is typically arranged and the practice of dowry is common in most part of the country (Karve, 1965). Data for this study is taken from “The Youth in India: Situation and Needs” survey conducted during 2006-2007. a sub nationally representative survey, and Crime in India (2008-2011) from NCRB to explore this dimension minutely. Results reveals that dowry death is on rise from 2008 to 2011 at the national level. Finding indicates that dowry is universal phenomenon in all the sates and it is not restricted with religion. To note here, dowry increases with economic standard, however chance of receiving and giving is less in love marriage and in those who are living in nuclear families. Interestingly men in southern states are having significantly higher chance of receiving dowry. But it is interesting to note that if we see it through the lens of crime records southern states stands other way round. At regional level percentage share of dowry death in Bihar is around 15 percent.

This research was intended to analyze the effect of socio-demographic variables on household savings. This analysis was measured with three models: (1) The ownership status of the savings, (2) The value of the savings. and (3) The savings ratio. The study received its information from the 2007 data from Indonesian Family Life Survey (ILFS.) The study also employed the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and the Biner Logistic Regression analysis. The socio-demographic variables that were measured were the age of the patriarchs, the number of family members, the average level of the education of productive-aged family members, the youth dependency ratio (YDR,) the old dependency ratio (ODR,) the total family income, the gender of the patriarchs, the employment status of the patriarchs, the patriarchs' field of business, the household loan charge, and the residential location.

The average years of schooling of productive age household members and total household income are constantly significant in the three models of household savings. The other finding is that male-headed households are less likely to have savings than female-headed household.

The keywords: The ownership status of savings, the value of savings, the savings ratio, and the socio-demographic variables.

This paper studies the effect on fertility of a series of three regional reforms, implemented 1988-1990, that changed the budget constraints of families in the northernmost parts of Norway compared to similar families in the rest of the country. The quasi-experimental nature of this policy change allows us to examine how exogenous variation in disposable income and the cost of childbearing affects fertility rates. In other words, we will compare the difference in fertility-related outcomes before and after the policy change (reform) in the affected regions with the same outcomes before and after 1989 for unaffected regions of the country. Individual-level multivariate analysis suggests that the reform did not have a causal effect on fertility.

Leaving the family of origin and entering into parenthood are two critical steps in the family formation process. Italy, as it is well known, is a country characterized by very low fertility and strong delay in starting an independent life.
Using the data from the survey “Critical aspects in the work life course in a gender perspective” carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) before the global economic crisis (2007) and the data from the survey “Youth Project” carried out in the mid-2012 by the Toniolo Institute for Advanced Studies (Catholic University, Milan) and IPSOS, we analyse a common sample of Italian young adults aged between 21 and 29, in order to evaluate the effect of the Great Recession. Our study focuses on both the intentions of becoming autonomous from the family of origin and of entry into parenthood. We found empirical evidence of a relevant impact of the economic crisis on fertility expectations but not on the intentions of leaving the parental home.

Family diversity and inequality: The Canadian case

The Second Demographic Transition, including flexibility in types of unions and in entry and exit from unions, has increased the diversity across families. There has been a significant cultural and political dynamic to celebrate this diversity as an increase in individual options, beyond the heterosexual couples with children in a traditional division of labour.

Diversity can be expressed in various ways: economic families or unattached individuals, married or common law, two parents or lone parent, opposite sex or same sex, breadwinner or two earners, traditional division of work and care or collaborative model, couples with and without children, intact or step-families (simple or complex).

On the basis of Canadian data from 1981 to 2011, this paper investigates the extent to which the greater diversity can be seen as representing risks and inequality across families and individuals. There has also been an increased difficulty for policy to support individuals and families that are so diverse in their family life course and in their needs.

Since the 1970s, married women have been increasingly participating in the labor force and providing a greater share of household incomes. Little is known about how women’s rising income contributions might influence couples’ fertility behavior. This study explores the relationship between husbands' and wives’ share of household income and fertility trajectories among married couples in the U.S. using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The authors employ event history models to investigate differences in the propensity of having a second or third child. In unadjusted analyses, the relationship between relative income and subsequent childbearing follows a U-shaped pattern such that equal earner families are less likely than male and female breadwinner families to have second and third births . However, in fully adjusted models, only significant associations with male breadwinner families remain.

With the ageing of the population, countries face challenges, particularly with regard to long term care. Caring for disabled elderly entails both public and private costs that amount to billions of euro per year. But the value of informal care is often missing. The aim of the study is to assess the cost of informal care provided to people aged 75 years and over, applying the contingent valuation method. Data from a French survey on informal caregivers are used. A two-step model à la Heckman is implemented in order to both analyze factors associated with the reported amount of willingness to pay for an extra-hour of care, and reasons why some informal caregivers did not give a value (protest respondents). Results are enhanced with findings from a qualitative survey. Age, proximity, mental health seem convey the need for informal caregivers to be recognized, as well as their need for respite due to the burden they bear. Socioeconomic factors are also important: the higher informal caregiver’s and care recipient’s income is, the higher the reported amount is. These elements could be useful to public policies which try to develop measures that both promote and relieve informal care provided to the elderly.

We are in the ‘Globalized world’. India as a developing nation with 1,210,193,422 million people (on 1st March 2011 Census) is emerging in all its socioeconomic frontiers. India as a nation has best translated its wealth into social benefits for people, especially to the persons with disabilities. Impairment of senses severely affects human development, which in turn affects the economy of a country, depending on the size of the population affected and cost incurred. India as a country, unlike US which does not translate their wealth into social benefits as per the HDI report & data (2011). Hence there is a need in India to evolve a study, on the additional cost involved in bringing up of a hearing impaired persons in India, as Government of India spends part of its GNP on welfare and social justice activities, which are also involved as the measure of quality of life based on life expectancy, literacy of the hearing impaired persons of India and increase the demographic dividend. But this research study will have its basis and will have to empirically consider the trends and differentials in measuring additional cost of bringing up a child with hearing disability in Indian population.