Parental Time Restrictions and the Cost of Children: Insights from a Survey Among Mothers

33 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2019

See all articles by Melanie Borah

Melanie Borah

Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

Andreas Knabe

Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg - Institute of Economics and Business Administration; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Kevin Pahlke

Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

Date Written: 2018

Abstract

In this paper, we provide estimates of the subjectively perceived cost of children depending on the extent of parental time restrictions. Building on a study by Koulovatianos et al. (2009) that introduces a novel way of using subjective income evaluation data for such estimations, we conduct a refined version of the underlying survey, focusing on young women with children in Germany. Our study confirms that the monetary cost of children is substantial and increases with parental nonmarket time restrictions. The loss in the material living standard associated with supplying time to the labor market is sizeable for families with children.

Keywords: child cost, equivalence scales, full-time employment, subjective income evaluations

JEL Classification: I320, J130, J220

Suggested Citation

Borah, Melanie and Knabe, Andreas and Knabe, Andreas and Pahlke, Kevin, Parental Time Restrictions and the Cost of Children: Insights from a Survey Among Mothers (2018). CESifo Working Paper No. 7321, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3338650 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3338650

Melanie Borah (Contact Author)

Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg ( email )

Faculty of Economics & Management
P.O. Box 4120
Magdeburg, 39016
Germany

Andreas Knabe

Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg - Institute of Economics and Business Administration ( email )

Universitaetsplatz 2
Magdeburg, 39016
Germany

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Kevin Pahlke

Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg ( email )

Universitätspl. 2
PSF 4120
Magdeburg, D-39106
Germany

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