Abstract

Estimates of the costs of children are used in a wide range of economic and social policies. One important use is in the design of child support schemes and in setting the amount of child support payments that separated parents are required to pay or entitled to receive. 

This paper provides new Australian estimates of the costs of children using a financial stress approach (a variant of the equivalent living standards approach) using data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.

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