| Chapter 2: | Background and Theoretical Development |
|
|
(the number of children parents would like to have); and (c) the psychic, social, and monetary costs of fertility regulation. According to Easterlin, the demand for children depends on the choices made by individuals among income, prices, and tastes. Variations in these income, prices, and tastes “will cause differences in demand among households at a given time or for a given household over time” (p. 55). Couples try to maintain a balance between the potential supply of children and the demand for children. This framework has been tested in several countries by different scholars (McDonald, 1993; Robinson, 1997).
Several studies have adapted these or similar versions of an economic framework to explain the fertility situation. The neoclassical microeconomic theory of fertility (Becker, 1960; T. W. Schultz, 1973) emphasizes three proximate determinants of couple's fertility choices: (a) the relative costs of children versus other goods, (b) the couple's income, and (c) the couple's preferences for children over competing forms of consumption. Studies have also included the exogenous factors that reduce fertility, such as women's wages and education (Bongaarts, 2006; Montgomery, 1987; Rosenzweig & Wolpin, 1980). Furthermore, economic models have incorporated the effects of family planning programs as a way of improving information and reducing the costs of limiting fertility (Rosenzweig & Schultz, 1985; T. P. Schultz, 1990).
Caldwell (1982) introduced a theoretical framework to explain the decline in fertility in Western countries called wealth flow theory. He argued that children are a source of income and support for parents throughout life. The wealth flow, as Caldwell called it, is the flow of money, goods, services, and guarantees that children provide to parents, particularly in traditional societies. The theory argued that, because of modernization (e.g., of technology), children begin to cost more to parents, and