Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Publication
    Revisiting the cost of children : theory and evidence from Ireland
    (Irish Economic Association, 2009-01-13) ;
    In this paper, we suggest a collective model with parents and (young) children. We identify and estimate scale economies in households and the sharing rule between husband, wife and children. While adult shares and economies of scale are identi…ed thanks to the estimation of individual Engel curves on single individuals, the identi…cation of the resource share accruing to children (the cost of children) requires the observation of adult-speci…c goods as in the traditional Rothbarth method. The useful aspect of the present approach is that it requires only the estimation of Engel curves on cross-sectional data, i.e. price variation is not required. This is an advan- tage for many countries where price variations is indeed limited, as in our application on Irish data.
      183
  • Publication
    The measurement of child costs : evidence from Ireland
    (University College Dublin. School of Economics, 2010-01) ; ;
    We apply an extension of the Rothbarth approach to estimate the share of household resources accruing to children (i.e., the cost of children) in Ireland. The method also allows us to identify the economies of scale in the household and indifference scales in Lewbel (2003)'s sense. A practical aspect of the present approach is that it does not require price variation. The identi cation of the children's share requires the observation of adult-speci c goods as in the traditional Rothbarth method. We compare our fi ndings to previous results for Ireland.
      164
  • Publication
    A theory of child targeting
    (University College Dublin; School of Economics, 2007-03) ;
    There is a large empirical literature on policy measures targeted at children but surprisingly very little theoretical foundation to ground the debate on the optimality of the different instruments. In the present paper, we examine the merit of targeting children through two general policies, namely selective commodity taxation and cash transfer to family with children. We consider a household that comprises an adult and a child. The household behavior is described by the maximization of the adult’s utility function, which depends on the child’s welfare, subject to a budget constraint. The relative effects of a price subsidy and of a cash benefit on child welfare are then derived. In particular, it is shown that ‘favorable’ distortions from the price subsidies may allow to redistribute toward the child. The framework is extended to account for possible paternalistic preferences of the State. Finally, it is shown that, in contrast to the traditional view, well-chosen subsidies can be more cost effective than cash transfers in alleviating child poverty.
      201
  • Publication
    Optimal Commodity Taxation and Redistribution within Households
    (University College Dublin. School of Economics, 2011-03) ;
    Using a collective model of consumption, we characterize optimal commodity taxes aimed at targeting speci fic individuals within the household. The main message is that distortionary indirect taxation can circumvent the agency problem of the household. Essentially, taxation should discourage less the consumption of a certain group of goods: those for which the slope of the Engel curves is larger for the targeted person.
      244
  • Publication
    The measurement of child costs : a Rothbarth-type method consistent with scale economies
    (University College Dublin. School of Economics, 2010-01) ;
    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 identi…cation of the children's share requires the observation of at least one adult-speci…c 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.
      364