Family policy and relationship between children and time allocation of couples

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K03716
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Public finance/Public economy
• Research Institution: Kanto Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: Yoshida Chizu 関東学院大学, 経済学部, 教授 (70339787)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 前田 正子 甲南大学, マネジメント創造学部, 教授 (20596192) ; 天野 恵美子 関東学院大学, 経営学部, 准教授 (20375215)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 生活時間 / 出生 / 家事育児時間 / 子どもをもつ効用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

From 1991 to 2006 among a husband and a wife aged under 50 in Japan, the ratio of working wives increased, and the available amount of time used for housework and child care tended to decrease. When a wife worked longer, a husband increased statistically significantly his housework and child care time, though his increase was only several minutes per weekday. His wife reduced her housework and child care time according to her longer working time. Total labor time of working hours, housework and childcare time was hardly the difference in husband and wife. It is difficult for a husband to increase the housework and child care time. The results of multivariate analyses show statistically significant positive relationship between wife's perceived utility of having a child and the birth probability.
These results show the importance to promote the policy balancing with family life.

Free Research Field

労働経済学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

効用最大化の経済理論を援用すると、子どもをもつか否かの決断にかかわる世帯の行動を分析する際、子どもをもつ効用を明示的に分析に含める必要はなく、決断の結果を表す行動に関する情報で実証分析が行われてきた。「幸福の経済学」において、個人は必ずしも効用を最大化していないとの批判がされるようになった。この新しい視点に立ち、子どもをもつ効用を明示的に分析に加えると、女性では効用の認識と出生確率には有意な正の関係があることが確認された。
近年、夫の家事育児時間は有意に増加しているが、就業時間も考慮すると、夫がさらに家事育児へ参加するのは困難であり、ワーク・ライフ・バランスの推進の重要性が示唆された。