Working Paper: NBER ID: w25597
Authors: David G. Blanchflower; Andrew E. Clark
Abstract: The common finding of a zero or negative correlation between the presence of children and parental well-being continues to generate research interest. We here consider over one million observations on Europeans from ten years of Eurobarometer surveys, and in the first instance replicate this negative finding, both in the overall data and then for most different marital statuses. Children are expensive, and controlling for financial difficulties turns almost all of our estimated child coefficients positive. We argue that financial difficulties explain the pattern of existing results by parental education and income, and country income and social support. Marital status matters. Kids do not raise happiness for singles, the divorced, separated or widowed. Last, we underline that all children are not the same, with step-children commonly having a more negative correlation than children from the current relationship.
Keywords: children; parental wellbeing; financial difficulties; happiness
JEL Codes: D14; I31; J13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Children under the age of ten (J13) | Parental wellbeing (I31) |
| Teenagers (J13) | Parental wellbeing (I31) |
| Children from previous relationships (J12) | Parental wellbeing (I31) |
| Children from current relationships (J12) | Parental wellbeing (I31) |
| Presence of children (J13) | Parental wellbeing (I31) |
| Financial difficulties (G33) | Parental wellbeing (I31) |