CHILDREN, STANDARD-OF-LIVING AND DISTRIBUTIONS IN THE FAMILY

The standard of living of children depends on (i) family income; (ii) production within the family; (iii) economies of scale within the fami ly; and (iv) distributions within the family. We use 1976 and 1986 Fam ily Expenditure Survey information on (i), models of housework time ba sed on time-budget surveys to estimate (ii), and equivalence scales to take account of (iii). The distribution of consumption well-being wit hin the family is found (for the time being at least) not to be direct ly observable. Theoretically imputed inequities are used to deal with (iv). Under the assumption of equity between children and adults withi n families, we find that children are systematically worse off than ad ults, and this difference has increased over time. The imputation of t heoretical inequities within families has obvious effects for the rela tive standard of living of persons, but little or no effect on measure s of inequality and poverty in society.