The cost of children and the use of demographic variables in consumer demand

This chapter is about the costs of children to their families with particular reference to the problems involved in calculating how much support poor families should receive for their children from society as a whole. Having reviewed the relevant literature the authors conclude that the seemingly simple concept of the cost of children is not easy to define and that except at starvation level "there does not seem to be a specific cost level which can be identified as the costs." (EXCERPT)