著者

水ノ上 智邦

出版者

徳島文理大学

雑誌

徳島文理大学研究紀要 (ISSN:02869829)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.77, pp.51-59, 2009-03

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Although a large number of studies have been made on the decision of household sizeand child education, there is little agreement about whether or not an increase in incomeincreases the birth rate. Especially, the empirical analyses of the effect of income on birthin Japan have showed various conclusions. This paper may help to interpret why a consistentresult has not been derived.I add one assumption to Becker's "quality-quantity model" which states that some parentscan give education to their child sufficiently to the upper limit. This is realistic in presentJapan and leads to the conclusion that an increase in income leads to an the increaseof children in a rich household.This theoretical conclusion was tested by empirical analysis using household data ofJapan in 2002. This empirical result shows two conclusions. (1) More income encouragesmost households to support more children. (2) A household decides the quality and quantityof children simultaneously.According to Becker's model, a child benefit not only does not increase birth rate, butmay decrease it. But, it makes clear that a child benefit is effective as a policy against thefalling of birth rate from the results above.