Baby bonus birth boom

When a couple has a difference of opinion as to whether or not to have more children, usually the woman prevails. I actually can’t think of a single time in my experience when a dad even got a vote. But in Australia, there is a study that tracks thousands of couples over a six year period since the introduction of the $3000 baby bonus and things have changed. Whoever wants the extra baby wins – no matter mom or dad.

“The baby bonus enhanced the bargaining power of the partner who wanted more children, whether that was the man or woman,” explain Elliott Fan, Australian national University. Dr. Fan and professor Pushkar Maitra, of Monash University, co-authored the research. Before the baby bonus was introduced in 2004, their research showed the woman won the argument overwhelmingly. But after the bonus came about, men who wanted children prevailed over the women who did not.

In addition to the bonus, new maternity leave guidelines introduced in January this year giving mothers 18 weeks of pay at minimum wage has also supported the larger family.

Still, most couples don’t argue about family size, agreeing early on how large their family will be. For those couple where both parties wanted no more children, their opinion was not changed by the bonus or the new maternity leave.

The policy was developed by the government to bring about a higher fertility rate but no one thought it would really change a couple’s attitude. And it hasn’t. What it has done is sway the divided couple toward having more children and in that way it is working.

Source: SMH.com