Childbearing Age, Family Allowances, and Social Security.

Although the optimal public policy under an endogenous number of children has been widely studied, the optimal public intervention under an endogenous timing of births has remained largely unexplored. This paper examines the optimal family policy when the timing of births is chosen by individuals wh...

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Published in:Southern Economic Journal Vol. 80; no. 2; pp. 385 - 414
Main Authors: Pestieau, Pierre, Ponthiere, Gregory
Format: Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Oct2013
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Childbearing Age, Family Allowances, and Social Security.
      aug:
        au:
          Pestieau, Pierre
          Ponthiere, Gregory
        affil:
          Paris School of Economics and Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris. 48 boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris, France
          University of Liège, HEC-ULg, and CORE, Paris School of Economics and CEPR, boulevard du Rectorat, batiment B31, 4000 Liège, Belgium
      su:
        Family policy
        Social security
        Family allowances
        Childbirth
        Government policy
        Childbearing age
        Endogenous growth (Economics)
      sug:
        subj:
          Family policy
          Social security
          Family allowances
          Childbirth
          Government policy
          Other Individual and Family Services
          Childbearing age
          Endogenous growth (Economics)
      ab: Although the optimal public policy under an endogenous number of children has been widely studied, the optimal public intervention under an endogenous timing of births has remained largely unexplored. This paper examines the optimal family policy when the timing of births is chosen by individuals who differ as to how early fertility weakens future earnings. We analyze the design of a policy of family allowances and of public pensions in such a setting, under distinct informational environments. Endogenous childbearing ages is shown to affect the optimal policy through the redistribution across the earnings dimension and the internalization of fertility externalities. Contrary to common practice, children benefits differentiated according to the age of parents can be part of the optimal family policy. Our results are robust to introducing: (i) children as durable "goods"; (ii) education choices; (iii) varying total fertility.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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