The Underestimated “Price of Parenting”

This article is part of the series, “Left Hook Economics: The Dollars & Sense Policy Forum.”

Nancy Folbre argues the the current method for estimating the cost of raising children in the United States doesn’t come close to accurately accounting for the real costs of having a family.

“A regular Consumer Expenditure Survey makes it possible to compare what parents spend but omits consideration of costs that don’t take the form of explicit monetary outlays, such as time costs—what someone could have earned and the leisure time they might have enjoyed if unencumbered by care responsibilities.”