In: Economics
what are the economical costs and benefits of children to their parents ?
Parents in high-fertility countries are more likely to perceive children as productive investments than those in low-fertility countries. Parents in the former countries maintain children are an economic advantage or provide practical assistance in the household; they are less likely to emphasize the psychological advantages of children. As economic development occurs, and parents no longer value children for their economic contributions, psychological and social reasons become more important. Changing fertility preferences is more complex than providing couples with family planning services.
Kids are more of a financial burden in most industrial societies. It is one reason why birth rates in different cultures continue to decline as these societies grow wealthier and more modernized. Kids are an economic advantage in more conventional societies. We are part of the commodity for their work. In these societies, child labor may contribute more to the family's economic condition than the cost of eating, bathing, and otherwise holding the child away from the home. Children are often a kind of informal old age pension, since they are required to take care of elderly parents.
In modernized economies, children do not usually have major economic benefits. They 're not going to work. Instead, it costs a lot to train them and supply them with all the things they 're supposed to do. Such communities tend to have public safety nets that allow parents to remain independent of their children in their old age. For these reasons, children in our society today continue to cost more than they give back to the family, making them economically responsible.