期刊名称：Discussion Paper / Département des Sciences Économiques de l'Université Catholique de Louvain
印刷版ISSN：1379-244X
出版年度：2009
卷号：1
出版社：Université catholique de Louvain
摘要：Very few studies have explored the optimality properties of the "standard model" of
fertility where parents must determine their optimal trade-off between quality and quantity.
The present paper works to fill that gap and find three main results. First, when there
exist positive externalities in the accumulation of human capital, it is optimal to subsidize
education and to tax births. Second, when the Social Welfare Function does not consist
of the average utility, the social returns on educational investments can be weaker than
the private returns when the optimal population growth rate is negative. In this case, the
optimal economic policy consists in subsidizing births and taxing education. Finally, when
the health expenditure is introduced as another source of positive externalities, it can be
optimal to tax the parental health expenditure to decentralize the first-best path even if this
expenditure is always too low at the laissez-faire equilibrium.
关键词：Fertility, Education, Family Policy, Mortality, Quality Quantity Trade-off
