Published in July 5th, 2011, an article on The Week magazine titled "Are children really 'inferior goods'?” the economist Wolfers contends that children are low-level goods since the desire of having them decreases as people get wealthier. Conversely, affluence leads people to use more normal goods. The statistics were support Wolfers view point of which wealthier families were having less kids than normal families do. For example, in the United States two third of the high-level income families prefer few kids, in general the kids are deficit especially from the economic's perspective. In addition, Carl Smith propose that children are mandatory thing and people can't substitute them, thus the reason people want few kids is as soon as they become lucrative, they will become busy, so they have to provide time to spend it with their kids. Finally, Sierra Black criticize that children can't be called as 'inferior goods”, since not only the economic situation can determines big vs. small families, but also there are many reasons contribute on families birth's decision.
In my opinion, I can see the two sides of this issue, but I can't stand with either one. First, the positive side of having fewer kids as the parents get richer is the desire of high lifestyle. Todays' parents aspire to maintain healthier and educated life for their kids, so they know that the money is mandatory to support their life. Therefore, having one or two kids can help the parents to divide and enjoy their time as well as their money, which will leads to have a happy life full of excitement and bright future. On the other hand, I do feel that these parents are selfish and would like to live in an irresponsible way, so that they made a decision to control the birth, . Although God gave them the money that they can support a life of many people, they prefer not to have kids maybe in order to live without duties, to enjoy their time or to travel. At the end, we can't do any thing it is a personal life and preference.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI got your point, but do you think that having children affect the lifestyle in rich people? Lets imagine a person like Bill Gate. How having 4 children can change his lifestyle?
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ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteAsmaa, I want to ask you. Which side will you choice ( a lot of money with few kids ) or ( little money with a lot of kids )? and why ?
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI think this issue is controversial because the economist named Justin Wolfers compared babies to "goods". I don't think it's important to stick to the term itself, but I agree with Karl Smith because there is no "Normal Goods" that can replace babies - "Inferior Goods" when we make more money. And I think Justin's theory cannot be applied when the parents are super rich.
So, do you think babies are "Inferior Goods" or not?