Our children, ourselves: rethinking the economics of family policy
Nancy Folbre
Department of Economics, University of Massachuetts
Contact Email:  

In affluent countries such as Australia and the United States family policy is embedded in an odd and complicated assortment of programs that could, where I come from, be described as a rat’s nest. Family allowances and leaves, tax exemptions and credits, child care subsidies, labor market regulation, home care provisions, and superannuation policies all intersect, often in contradictory ways. Sorting out the specific implications of these programs in a single country requires years of study. Providing comparative analysis is for many scholars (including myself) a source of lifetime employment.

The complexity of family policy partly reflects the diverse goals of its many constituents. Let us - Save children from poverty! Increase fertility! Promote gender equality! Strengthen meritocracy! Defend moral values! We may never reach agreement on the relative importance of these goals. But the complexity of family policy also reflects a theoretical shortcoming, an intellectual failure.

Economists focus on the market economy, largely avoiding consideration of the natural assets, social capital, and non-market services that are not easily denominated in dollar terms. Yet the sustainability of many non-market services is coming into question. If global warming poses serious long-term threats, consider the possible consequences of "social chilling" a reduction in the supply of effort devoted to family and community.

We need to situate family policy within a larger picture of an ecosystem of which market exchange is only a part. We need to develop accounting systems that provide a clear picture of intergenerational resource flows. We need a better picture of the distribution of the costs of social reproduction. A broader approach to the economics of family policy could help us negotiate a better and more sustainable social contract.

Paper Download Information (if available):

Paper2.ppt

Copyright © 2007 Social Policy Research Centre.