Demand For Children A Micro-economic Analysis Of Household Fertility Behaviour

A micro economic approach is employed in order to investigate the behaviourrnof households regarding demand for children. Two hypotheses, namely supplyrnconstrained and quality-quantity trade off, are tested. For the same purpose data fromrneight rural areas is used. The data was collected by the deparunent of Economics ofrnAAU with institutional support of the Institute of Development Research, inrncollaboration with the Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.rnThe results show that demand for children in rural areas of Ethiopia is supply rationed.rnUnlike markets for other commodities, consumers are not homogeneous regarding thernsupply. This is because children can not be bought and sold readily, so that everyrnconsumer (household demanding children) has to consume what it can produce. Thus,rnwhile some are supply constrained others may not. The implication of such finding isrndiscussed, and possible trade off between child quality and quantity is also checked. Ifrnthere is any observed trade off it operates through child labour: positively affectingrnquantity and negatively related with quality.

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