In relative terms, maybe children do not cost more than before?
Households devote substantially more real resources to children than they did in 1990, but this increase parallels the growth of real adult consumption rather than reflecting a child-specific rise in prices. A similar offsetting pattern appears for parental time: the rising value of women’s time is largely counterbalanced by declining motherhood penalties in earnings and work hours, so forgone market work adds little to relative cost growth. The main departure from this stability comes from the growing amount of leisure displaced by childcare; valuing that time raises the CCI, although the magnitude depends on the shadow value assigned to leisure.
- ▪Households devote substantially more real resources to children than they did in 1990, but this increase parallels the growth of real adult consumption rather than reflecting a child-specific rise in prices.
- ▪A similar offsetting pattern appears for parental time: the rising value of women’s time is largely counterbalanced by declining motherhood penalties in earnings and work hours, so forgone market work adds little to relative cost growth.
- ▪The main departure from this stability comes from the growing amount of leisure displaced by childcare; valuing that time raises the CCI, although the magnitude depends on the shadow value assigned to leisure.
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| Original publisher | Marginal Revolution |
| Canonical URL | https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/07/in-relative-terms-maybe-children-do-not-cost-more-than-before.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=in-relative-terms-maybe-children-do-not-cost-more-than-before |
| Publication time | Sun, 26 Jul 2026 23:16:14 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-07-26T23:18:28.054Z |
| Last seen | 2026-07-26T23:18:28.054Z |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
In relative terms, maybe children do not cost more than before? by Tyler Cowen July 26, 2026 at 7:16 pm in Data Source Economics Despite rapid inflation in childcare and tuition prices, the goods-and-services CCI closely tracks adult prices, as these increases are offset by children’s lower exposure to shelter and by slower price growth elsewhere in the child basket. Households devote substantially more real resources to children than they did in 1990, but this increase parallels the growth of real adult consumption rather than reflecting a child-specific rise in prices.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Marginal Revolution.
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