Costs of children and equivalence scales: a review of methodological issues and Australian estimates 

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Defining the costs of children
3. Australian estimates of the costs of children
4. The costs of children by income and age of children
5. Relating the costs of children research to expenditures on children
6. Concluding comments
7. References
8. Appendix A. Detailed equivalence scales

Matthew Gray¹
Australian National University

1. This paper was prepared for the Ministerial Taskforce on the Child Support Scheme. The paper has benefited from helpful discussions with Bruce Bradbury, Ann Harding and Paul Henman and comments from Boyd Hunter, David Stanton and Peter Whiteford. The views expressed in the paper are those of the author.