
The Price of a Child (2013) - oli5679
http://priceonomics.com/the-price-of-a-child/
======
pavel_lishin
I imagine that people were largely indifferent to the loss of a child in "ye
olden times" because it was expected, and they hardened themselves to the
probability. Childhood mortality was atrocious back in the day.

~~~
erehweb
Maybe not. Listening to the History of England podcast, was pointed to the
poem "Pearl" [https://interestingliterature.com/2016/02/03/a-short-
summary...](https://interestingliterature.com/2016/02/03/a-short-summary-of-
the-medieval-poem-pearl/) and
[http://www.billstanton.co.uk/pearl/pearl_new.htm](http://www.billstanton.co.uk/pearl/pearl_new.htm)
which includes a father's grieving for his lost two year old daughter. So some
evidence that these losses were keenly felt.

~~~
i000
Another example are Laments by a great Polish 16th century poet (Kochanowski).

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laments_(Kochanowski)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laments_\(Kochanowski\))

~~~
nsrango
Also from the American tradition I wish my baby was born.
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sFpU3zslpHw](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sFpU3zslpHw)

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ikeboy
Title reminds me of [https://mises.org/library/children-and-
rights](https://mises.org/library/children-and-rights). (Do not endorse).

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mysterypie
The article doesn't answer the central question of "Why did the value of a
child change from worthless to nearly priceless?"

If children transformed from economically useful little people to economically
useless, then the conclusion should be that they became _even more_ worthless.

I'm not seeing a clear explanation of why children are perceived as more
valuable nowadays.

~~~
brc
A combination of rarity, utility and sunk costs.

The article seems to be wandering down the tangled nest of errors called the
labor theory of value, or one of its offshoots. This bedevilled people for a
long time who could not explain why a diamond was worth so much when it cost
little effort to make and is objectively useless.

Modern children are diamonds. They are not that difficult to make, mostly
useless but give great utility to the parent. Modern children are also rare,
thanks to birth control. Most affluent societies are below replacement rate,
while 1800s societies had kids everywhere. The most spoiled and indulged
children are the ones who don't have any siblings.

So... \- kids give their parents pride and joy (like a diamond) \- kids are
relatively rare compared to the prior period \- the upbringing of a child is
20 year project for parents now, so the loss of effort as they get older
increases the pain of loss

Most of these points are in reverse to the prior period, when you'd have 5 or
6 children in the hope of getting 2 or 3 to adulthood, which was onset much
earlier. You had more, invested in them less, and everyone else had more as
well.

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nimrody
Priceless but also very expensive :) I wonder if someone researched the cost
of raising a child all the way to adulthood.

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
There's plenty of number floating around various source, one at random claims
US$263,000[1] in the US and AU$812,000 in Australia[also 1]. Of course, it
depends how much you spend (private school or public, $400 shoes or $40). A
single parent on welfare in Australia will spend substantially less than a
couple who have a combined income of one million. Also the single parent on
welfare gets benefits like discounted healthcare (free primary care) and
discounted public transport.

1\. [http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/cost-of-
raising-c...](http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/cost-of-raising-
children-in-australia-is-rather-massive/news-
story/cbbe4eab3f4539323931c22a1a1c30bf)

~~~
gambiting
The price of raising a child in Poland seems to be 170k PLN(42k USD) from 0-19
years of age[0]. Completely free healtcare and education, including higher
education, seem to keep the cost low.

[0]
[http://smith.pl/sites/default/files/zalaczniki_201508/dzieci...](http://smith.pl/sites/default/files/zalaczniki_201508/dzieci_2015_raport.pdf)

~~~
brc
Don't forget the extra taxes paid to provide the schooling and hospitals!

It's a good thing for these to be spread out - otherwise those who don't have
kids are free riders on those that do. A healthy educated child not only
supplies a lifetime of taxes paid, they also provide the labor to care for the
ageing who didn't have children.

~~~
gambiting
Income tax in Poland is at 19% at the moment - surely it's not a lot more
expensive than anywhere else in the world?

~~~
brc
I might just move to Poland then!

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esharef
I wonder what the process of losing a child was like for mothers in the 18th
century. Somehow I have trouble believing there was that little sorrow

~~~
ddebernardy
You can capture their sentiment by reading letters sent to announce the loss
of said child. You can even observe how big a change occurred in the 19th
century.

In the early 19th (and before that), the loss of a child is described almost
in passing. There was grievance of course, but child mortality was normal
then; almost expected. By the end of the 19th century it had become unusual.
And indeed, dramatic.

