Are babies consumer durables

Abstract Never before have couples been able to control so effectively the number of children they will have. Although involuntary factors still affect family size, continuing advances in contraceptive techniques make deliberate choice an ever more important determinant of fertility. But what factors determine the size of family people will choose ? One type of answer advanced in recent years by Gary Becker views reproductive performance simply as economic behaviour. Couples, he believes, desire fewer children when poor, more when rich.