The Hindu Business Line : <I>To have or not, you must be kidding </I>

One of our friends is expecting her second child. She was asked by another friend as to what made her have another child. Never mind my friend's response but economics throws some light on how we make decisions including having children! You may loathe the idea of applying economics to explain people having children. The fact is that economists have some interesting ideas on the subject. So, what are they?

Economists have found that people who have at least one child are a lot happier than ones that that do not have children. You know that. But what happens if you have more than one child?

Studies have found that parents with two or more children are less happy than ones with just one child. Why? One reason is that the parents under estimate the additional work needed to take care of the children. Another reason is that they over-estimate the happiness resulting from an additional child. So, economists suggest that parents should have just one child if they want to "maximise their well-being". Of course, this subject is too personal to let economists decide what you want!

So, why would you want to have more than one child? One reason is that you may want your child to have a sibling for company. After all, child development could be better with siblings.

Another reason could be to do with future enjoyment. When you are old, you may prefer to have many of your children and grand-children visiting you everyday. And that is possible only if you have more than one child now! There is, hence, a trade-off — more stress and responsibility now against more pleasure in the future. Which do you prefer?

(The author is based in Surrey, BC, Canada)

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