The effects and optimal choice of policy instruments affecting the family (child benefits, taxes on child-specific commodities, etc.) are examined within the context of a household economics model with fertility choice. The simultaneous consideration of child benefits and commodity taxes in the...

Given that young children are under the control of their parents, if the government has an interest in either the welfare or the productivity of the former, it has no option but to act through the latter. Parents are, in the ordinary sense of the word, the government’s agents. They are agents...

Given that a child's birth and lifetime earning capacity are the result of actions undertaken by the child's own parents, if the government has an interest in the welfare or tax-paying capacity of its future citizens, it has no option but to condition the decisions of its present citizens....

The motivation for this symposium was the view that the problems of taxation of the family are very important, indeed central, for income tax policy, but are relatively neglected in theoretical public economics. We hope that this collection will stimulate interest and further work in this area....

Die Autoren untersuchen anhand unterschiedlicher Modelle die steuerlichen Maßnahmen, um den Bedürfnissen kinderreicher Familien gerecht zu werden. Unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen könnte sich die Steuerbelastung an der Familiengröße orientieren und kindbedingte Erfordernisse...