Children Costs in a One-Adult Household: Empirical Evidence from the UK

Anderson Vil ()
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Anderson Vil: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris

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Abstract: This paper addresses two central questions in family and economic policy. First, to what extent are estimates of the cost of children derived from two-parent households applicable to single-parent families? Second, is the recently introduced two-child limit policy in the UK appropriate given the diversity of family structures? To address these questions, I propose a collective consumption model for one-adult households, apply it to three datasets-the Family Expenditure Survey, the Expenditures and Food Survey, and the Living Costs and Food Survey in the UK-and present two key findings. First, child cost estimates derived from two-parent households remain externally valid for single-parent families, at least for single mothers. Second, in low-income families, household size plays a crucial role in determining the proportion of resources allocated to children, a factor less relevant for higher-income families. This suggests that the two-child limit policy would likely exacerbate inequalities and increase child poverty within low-income families.

Keywords: Identification; Resource sharing; Economies of scale; Shadow price; Collective Model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-05343760v1
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