The Demand for Children in Developing Countries
The economic theory of fertility assumes that the household demand for children is determined by family preferences for a certain number of surviving (usually male) children (i.e., in regions of high mortality, parents may produce more children than they actually desire in the expectation that some will not survive), by the price or “opportunity cost” of rearing these children, and by levels of family income. Children in poor societies are seen partly as economic investment goods in that there is an expected return in the form of both child labor and the provision of financial support for parents in old age.7 However,in many developing countries, there is a strong intrinsic psychological and cultural determinant of family size, so the first two or three children should beviewed as “consumer” goods for which demand may not be very responsive to relative price changes.