Rural Development Activities, Fertility, and the Cost and Value of Children Boone A. Turchi Ellen S. Bryant Conducted by Research Triangle Institute and South East Consortium for International Development Produced ior Agency for International Development/Office of Rural Development and Development Administration as part of The Rural Development and Fertility Project RURAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES, FERTILITY, AND THE COST AND VALUE OF CHILDREN By Boone A. Turchi, University of North Carolina Ellen Bryant, Mississippi State University Submitted to the Research Triangle Institute and the South East Consortium for International Development as part of the Rural Development and Fertility Project. (No. AID/ta-CA-l) June, 1979 TABLE OF CONTENTS Is INTRODUCTION .................. s..... ....... o......o...... .. Rural Development Activities and Rural Development Projects .............................. 2 The General Model ......... ....... ..... 0 ...... ..... 4 The Social and Cultural Context of Reproductive Behavior A Model of Reproductive Decision Making Fertility Behavior Summary ................................................... 24 II. THE VALUE OF CHILDREN ........................... ..... ........ 26 Introduction....................................... 26 VOC, Fertility and the Social Matrix Historical Process AGeneral Framework .................................... ... 26 Social Change and Historical Process Social Structures Social Structures and Value of Children: An Identification of Hypotheses by Region.,................. 46 Africa Asia Latin America Middle East Summary and Conclusion ...................................*. 84 III. THE FINANCIAL COST OF CHILDREN .............................. 87 Introduction .. ....................... 4. ~ .06 87 Costs Important Determinants Areof FinancialFertility? ............................. .. 91 The Economic Value of Children ..................... 6...... 97 The Net Financial Cost of a Chil.......................d 100 IV. THE TIME COST OF CHILDREN .................................... 102 Introduction .............................................. 102 Evidence on Time Cost and Fertility ....................... 110 Industrial Countries Asia Latin America and the Near East Africa V. POLICY AND THE COST OF CHILDREN ............................ 117 Development Policy and Fertility ................. ..... 117 What the Literature Reports .......................... 119 Financial Cost and Fertility Time Cost and Fertility Suggested Policy Interventions ........................... 122 Some Suggestions for Research......................... 124 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOREWORD This report is part of a series of State-of-the-Art Papers called for under AID Project 931-1170, Rural Development and Fertility. The Project was designed to assist AID officials, overseas and in Washington, to comply with the mandate included in the 1975 Foreign Assistance Act, Section 104d. That section stipulates that "(1) Assistance ..... shall be administered so as to give particular attention to the interrelationships between (a) pop­ ulation growth, and (b) development and overall improvement in living standards in developing countries, and to the impact of all programs, projects, and activities on population growth. All appropriate activities proposed for fi­ nancing under this chapter shall be designed to build motivation for smaller families through modification of economic and social conditions supportive of the desire for large families, in programs such as education in and out of school, nutrition, disease control, maternal and child health services, improve­ ments in the status and employment of women, agricultural production, rural development and assistance to the urban poor." The amendment'to the FAA continues to authorize the President "...to study the complex factors affect­ ing population growth in developing countries and to identify factors which might motivate people to plan family size or space their children." These papers examine the extensive literature which encompasses rural development and fertility relationships. Seven State-of-the-Art Papers (SOAPs) were produced: addressing the primary determinants of fertility. From this research base the second phase of the project will "...study the complex factors affecting population growth..." in operational settings, particularly through the medium of project implementation. Case studies will be designed to examine development in rural areas and to isolate the fertility implications of changes in the socio-economic environment. Translating the results of this investigation to decision makers in developing nations and within donor organizations is also i a primary goal of the Project. In addition to publications, a series of seminars, workshops, and intensive technical assistance in participating countries are planned as part of an outreach component of the Project. Ronald V. Curtis Project Manager Office of Rural and Administrative Development Development Support Bureau Agency for Internafional Development Department of State Washington, DC The views and interpretations in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the Agency for International Development or to any individual acting in their behalf. The seven papers were reviewed by an independent panel of experts including: Dr. William P. McGreevy, Battelle Memorial Institute Dr. Cecile E. De Sweemer, Johns Hopkins University Dr. Rae Lesser Blumberg, University of California Dr. Nadia Youssef, International Center for Research on Women Dr. Roxann Van Dusen, AID/PPC/PDPR The SOAPS reflect the comments of the review panel: however, re­ sponsibility for content rests with the authors. ii RURAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES, FERTILITY, AND THE COST AND VALUE OF CHILDREN Boone A. Turchi and Ellen S. Bryant I. Introduction As experience with rural development programs and family planning programs has accumulated it has become increasingly apparent that the fertility of rural populations is not independent of the social, economic, and political context within which these populations reside. To the extent that publicly funded rural development activities transform the economic and social environment they also may alter the context within which fertility changes occur, and it becomes desirable, therefore, to understand how these activities either promote or retard the reduction of rural fertility. This paper is an attempt to use existing social science research on fertility in low income countries to assess the connections between economic development programs, the cost and value of children, and fertility. It will develop a model of reproductive behavior that will serve as a framework for the analysis of the ways in which rural development programs can, intentionally or unintentionally, affect fertility levels and trends by altering the cost and/or value of children to their families. In 2 addition, it will pinpoint those areas where our current understanding of the linkages between development programs, the cost/value of children, and fertility is weakest. The result will be an improved understanding of what the current professional literature has to offer as well as an agenda for policy relevant research that will fill gaps in our present understanding. This introductory section will comment on the philosophical meaning of children, briefly review recent population trends, and develop a comprehensive theoretical overview of the interrelations among types of fertility policy, AID Rural Development Activities, specific development programs, and fertility. This theoretical framework will serve as the basis for the literature review that follows Section V. Children and Their Value Every society places social value on offspring--the perpetuators of their culture. While societies, as this review of literature will show, place different types of values on and have varying purposes for children, their role in human society is unique and cannot be fully replaced. This is true, not only from the standpoint of the survival of the group, but also from the standpoint of the individual parent (see, for instance, Arnold, et al., 1975). Parents tend to have vested interests in their offspring (e.g., love, security, ego involvement, goals). Thus, while desired family size seems to vary along the continuum of economic develop­ ment, even the most highly developed nations place a value on children. Rural Development Activities and Rural Dvelopment Projects It becomes immediately app& it from even a cursory perusal of AID rural development projects that any given project contains inter­ 3 ventions along a number of different dimensions of rural economic and social activity. Administratively AID characterizes these dimensions as seven "rural development activities": land tenure, off-farm employment, marketing systems, area development, extension services, participation of the rural poor, and rural financial markets. These activities contain interventions of wide and diverse scope, including some that influence individuals directly (sanitary facilities, literacy training, clinic construction, water supply, etc.) and others that have only an indirect impact on most of the rural population (regional program integration, rural credit facilities, regional infrastructure development, etc.). Moreover, the specific rural development programs actually undertaken often affect the rural population in diverse ways simultaneously. Many of the programs tend to have the most direct impact upon the economic environ­