INSTRUCTOR DISCUSSION NOTES:
What Would the U.S. Demand Curve for Kids Look Like?

1. Gary Becker's theory suggests that a graph of marginal benefits and marginal costs can be used to determine the optimal number of children per family. Draw such a diagram and explain how those curves are derived.

It should be a standard MB/MC diagram, with the optimal number of children as the equilibrium. Use the arguments from the article summary as the focal points.

2. The article summary suggests that organized religion may also play a positive role in the number of children a family has. Why do you think this is so?

Religion provides people with a way of feeling optimistic about the future. If people feel optimistic, they may have more children.

3. China has long had a policy of restricting families to only one child, and also restricting immigration into the country. What impact do you think both of these play on the fertility rate in China, and on population growth there?

The one-child policy would decrease the fertility rate, and both would reduce the population growth rate.

Multiple Choice/True False Questions

1. If the U.S. fertility rate is near the population replacement rate, what may be the cause of the increased growth in population?

  1. Increase in immigration
  2. Decrease in immigration
  3. Change in the way the Bureau of the Census counts
  4. Movement of people into the EU
ANS . a

2. What does Becker's model suggest would happen to the optimal number of children if the costs of receiving higher education continue to increase the way they have been?

  1. Increase
  2. Decrease
  3. No change
  4. Fall to zero children.
ANS . b

3. Which of the following would NOT decrease the benefits of having children?
  1. Pessimism about the future.
  2. Increase in the resources needed to provide for oneself in old age.
  3. Need for support after retirement
  4. All of the above would decrease the benefits of having children.
ANS . c

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