Demand for Children: A Micro-economic Analysis of Household Fertility Behaviour
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Date
1996-06
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A.A.U
Abstract
A micro economic approach is employed in order to investigate the behaviour
of households regarding demand for children. Two hypotheses, namely supply
constrained and quality-quantity trade off, are tested. For the same purpose data from
eight rural areas is used. The data was collected by the deparunent of Economics of
AAU with institutional support of the Institute of Development Research, in
collaboration with the Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
The results show that demand for children in rural areas of Ethiopia is supply rationed.
Unlike markets for other commodities, consumers are not homogeneous regarding the
supply. This is because children can not be bought and sold readily, so that every
consumer (household demanding children) has to consume what it can produce. Thus,
while some are supply constrained others may not. The implication of such finding is
discussed, and possible trade off between child quality and quantity is also checked. If
there is any observed trade off it operates through child labour: positively affecting
quantity and negatively related with quality.
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A Micro-economic Analysis of Household