What is the Income “Cost of a Child”? Exact Equivalence Scales for Canadian Two-Parent Families
用完整需求系统方法估计加拿大双亲家庭的等价尺度，回答维持孩子出生前生活水平需要多少额外收入，并确保孩子自身福利不被忽视。
This note asks: "How much income does it take to preserve the prechild standard of living for all members of the postchild household?" Equivalence scales for Canadian two-parent families are estimated using a complete demand system approach and imposing the condition of equivalence scale exactness/independent of a base (Blackorby and Donaldson (1993), Lewbel (1989)). This approach has several advantages: (1) It is formally grounded in economic theory. (2) The income required for children can be estimated without ignoring the well-being of the children themselves. (3) The estimates obtained appear reasonable relative to others currently available in the literature. © 1998 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology