The German government spends about € 185 billion on measures to support families. This amount is above European Union average, but still, families have become smaller and the number of childless couples has increased. This article outlines some of the 145 German policy measures to support families and their purpose. An assessment that takes into account economic theory and empirical studies shows that an increase of monetary incentives could influence the decision to bear a child only moderately. This implies that policy measures alone cannot be held responsible for the entire difference in fertility rates between countries. Cited studies based on surveys among the German and French populations reveal how different attitudes of the population may also play their role in determining the fertility rate of a country.
Eurostat, "Old-age-dependency Ratio Percentage" (2006), http://epp.eurotat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1996,39140985&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&screen=detailref&language=en&product=sdi_as&root=sdi_as/sdi_as/sdi_as1000 (accessed June 30, 2007).
2.
For example, A. Cigno, A. Luporini, and A. Pettinini, "Hidden Information Problems in the Design of Family Allowances. Journal of Population Economics17 (2004): 645-55; A. Cigno and A. Pettini, "Taxing Family Size and Subsidizing Child-specific Commodities?Journal of Public Economics84 (2002): 75-90; B. van Groezen, T. Leers, and L. Meijdam, "Social Security and Endogenous Fertility: Pensions and Child Allowances as Siamese Twins," Journal of Public Economics87 (2003): 233-51; M. Nerlove, A. Razin, and E. Sadka, "Populations Size: Individual Choice and Social Optima," Quarterly Journal of Economics100, no. 2 (1985): 321-34; and A. Razin and E. Sadka, 1995. Population Economics (London: MIT Press, 1995).
3.
Child quality can be increased through spending on the current needs of the child, investing in the child's health and education, and providing for the child's future children in the form of bequests.
4.
Razin and Sadka, Population Economics.
5.
A. Cigno, Economics of the Family (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1991).
6.
Bertelsmann Foundation, " Changes in the Child Rearing Benefit (reform proposal)," International Reform Monitor (2007), http://www.reformmonitor.org/httpdcache/doc_reports_2-3197.html (accessed May 20, 2007).
7.
FamilienForschung, in Familien wirksam investieren-Familienleistungen in Deutschland. FamilienForschung Baden-Württemberg, ed. Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ), Monitor6 (2006): 1-10.
8.
Bmfsfj, Kompetenzzentrum für familienbezogene Leistungen (2006), http://www.bmfsfj.de/Politikbereiche/familie,did=89430.html (accessed June 11, 2007).
9.
Statistisches Bundesamt, Bevölkerungsstatistik (2006), http://www.edsdestatis.de/downloads/publ/de3_bevoelk.pdf (accessed July 30, 2008).
10.
S. Cordellier and E. Lau, eds., L'État de la France. Société, Culture, Économie, Politique (Paris: La Découverte , 2004), 75-81.
11.
Mutterschutzgesetz, http://www.bmfsfj.de/RedaktionBMFSFJ/Broschuerenstelle/Pdf-Anlagen/PRM-23682-Broschure-Mutterschutzgesetz,property=pdf,bereich=,rwb=true.pdf (accessed July 30, 2008). This is a German law to protect mothers during pregnancy.
12.
Mutterschutzgesetz; Reichsversicherungsordnung; Bundesgesetzblatt III. No. 820-1. Latest change: Bundesgesetzblatt I. 2007. p. 378; Sozialgesetzbuch, Drittes Buch-Arbeitsförderung. Bundesgesetzblatt I. 1997, pp. 594-5. Latest change Bundesgesetzblatt I. 2008, pp. 842-6. These are German laws.
13.
Einkommenssteuergesetz, http://www.bundesrecht.juris.de/bundesrecht/estg/gesamt.pdf (accessed July 30, 2008). This is a German law.
14.
These rates are applicable since January 1, 2002.
15.
Einkommenssteuergesetz.
16.
Ibid.
17.
Erziehungsgeld (a German word meaning reimbursement for parents during parental leave), Bundeserziehungsgeldgesetz, http://bundesrecht.juris.de/berzgg/index.html (accessed July 30, 2008); Landesgesetze (a term that means "federal state laws"; each of the sixteen federal states of the Federal German Republic might have different regulations on a specific topic. My aim is not to reference each of the sixteen laws but only to mention that there might be additional and different regulations in each federal state).
18.
On average, less than 1,000.
19.
Bundeserziehungsgeldgesetz.
20.
Since 2001, increased from nineteen to thirty hours; additionally, the right to work part-time was introduced in that year.
21.
Bundeskindergeldgesetz, http://bundesrecht.juris.de/bkgg_1996/index.html (accessed July 30, 2008). This is a German law.
22.
Unterhaltsvorschussgesetz; Regelbetrag-Verordnung, http://bundesrecht.juris.de/uhvorschg/index.html (accessed July 30, 2008); Regelbetrag-Verordnung. Bundesgesetzblatt I, 1998, 666-8. Latest change BundesgesetzblattI. 2007, 1044. This is a German law.
23.
Sozialgesetzbuch, Achtes Buch Kinder- und Jugendhilfe; Kindertagesstättengesetz , http://www.bmfsfj.de/Kategorien/Publikationen/Publikationen,did=3578.html (accessed July 30, 2008). This is a German law.
24.
Since 1990.
25.
Sec. 17, Abs. 3, Gesetz über Tageseinrichtungen für Kinder (GTK). http://www.akafoe.de/downloads/Gesetz%20ueber%20Tageseinrichtungen%20fuer%20Kinder.pdf (accessed July 30, 2008). This is a German law.
26.
Arbeitsstelle für Kinder- und Jugendhilfestatistik, 2006. Ausgangsgrößen des TAG, bisher erreichte Besuchsquote und weiterer Ausbaubedarf für Angebote in Tageseinrichtungen (TE) und Kindertagespflege (KTP) nach den Vorgaben des TAG. http://www.bmfsfj.de/bmfsfj/generator/RedaktionBMFSFJ/Internetredaktion/Pdf-Anlagen/_C3_BCbersichtausbau-kinderbetreuung,property=pdf,bereich=,sprache=de,rwb=true.pdf (accessed December 9, 2007).
27.
FamilienForschung, in Familien wirksam investieren-Familienleistungen in Deutschland. FamilienForschung Baden-Württemberg, ed. Bmfsfj. Monitor6 (2006): 1-10.
28.
S. Bothfeld, T. Schmidt, V. Tobsch, 2005. "Erosion des männlichen Ernährermodells?" http://www.bmfsfj.de/Kategorien/Forschungsnetz/forschungsberichte,did=59416.html (accessed June 5, 2007); Deutscher Juristinnenbund E. V., 2000. "Stellungnahme zum Entwurf eines Dritten Gesetzes zur Änderung des Bundeserziehungsgledes ," http://www.djb.de/Kommissionen/kommission-recht-der-sozialen-sicherung-familienlastenausgleich/sn-35/ (accessed June 5, 2007); and C. Dienel, 2003. " Familienpolitik in Deutschland. Berlin-Institut für Bevölkerung Entwicklung " (2003): http://www.berlin-institut.org/pdfs/Dienel_Familienpolitik%20in%20Deutschland.pdf (accessed June 5, 2007); and Universität Duisburg Essen, 2005. "Familienpolitik, Familienleistungsausgleich steuerliche Entlastungen & Transfers" (2005), http://www.sozialpolitik-aktuell.de/neuregelungen_familie.shtml (accessed June 5, 2007).
29.
P. Apps and R. Rees, "Fertility, Taxation and Family Policy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics106, no. 4 (2004): 745-63.
30.
Net child care costs are fees charged by the provider minus child care benefits, rebates, and tax concessions. These various cost components have been integrated into the tax-benefit model of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
31.
H. Immervoll and D. Barber, "Can Parents Afford to Work? Childcare Costs, Tax-Benefit Policies and Work Incentives," OECD Social, Employment and Migration working papers32 (2005): 53-58.
32.
Arbeitsstelle für Kinder- und Jugendhilfestatistik, 2006.
33.
K. Hank and M. Kreyenfeld, "A Multilevel Analysis of Child Care and Women's Fertility Decisions in Western Germany. Journal of Marriage and Fertility65 (2003): 584-96. 34. Grandparents or relatives looking after the child
34.
Apps and Rees, "Fertility, Taxation and Family Policy."
35.
M. Lechner , Eine empirische Analyse der Geburtenentwicklung in den neuen Bundesländern. Beiträge zur angewandten Wirtschaftsforschung (Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre und Statistik, Universität Mannheim, 1997); D. Blanchet and O. Ekert-Jaffé, O., "The Demograhic Impact of Family Benefits: Evidence from a Micro-Model and from Macro-Data," in The family, the Market and the State in Ageing Societies, ed. J. Ermisch and N. Ogawa (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1994), 79-104; J. Ermisch, "Econometric Analysis of Birth Rate Dynamics in Britain." The Journal of Human Resources23, no. 4 (1988): 563-76; and L.A. Whittington, J. Alm, and H.E. Peters, "Fertility and the Personal Exemption: Implicit Pronatalist Policy in the United States." The American Economic Review80, no. 3 (1990): 545-56. Lechner investigates the effects of the German reunification; Blanchet and Ekert-Jaffé create an index for family policy; Ermisch makes readers aware of the timing effect; Whittington, Alm, and Peters focus on tax exemptions.
36.
A.H. Gauthier and J. Hatzius, "Family Benefits and Fertility: An Econometric Analysis" Population Studies. 51, no. 3 (1997): 295-306.
37.
Ibid.
38.
Ibid.
39.
Ibid.
40.
Robert Bosch Stiftung, Studie: Unternehmen Familie. Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (2006), http://www.boschstiftung.de/content/language1/downloads/BuG_Familie_Studie_Unternehmen_Familie_Studie.pdf (accessed June 11, 2007).
41.
Ibid.
42.
Allensbach Institut für Demoskopie, Einflußfaktoren auf die Geburtenrate. Ergebnisse einer Repräsentativbefragung der 18- bis 44jährigen Bevölkerung (2004), http://www.gesis.org/Information/SowiNet/sowiPlus/Gesellschaft/Materialien/Allensbach.pdf (accessed June 11, 2007).
43.
Ibid.
44.
According to the OECD Standardized Unemployment Rates, the unemployment rate in France decreased from 9.4 percent in January 2006 to 8.8 percent in August 2006, while in Germany, it decreased from 9.0 to 8.5 percent during this period.
45.
OECD Standardized Unemployment Rates (2006), http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/36/44/37495097.pdf (accessed August 31, 2007).
46.
Allensbach Institut für Demoskopie, Einflussfaktoren auf die Geburtenrate-ein deutschfranzösischer Vergleich. Zusammenfassung der wichtigsten Befunde der Studie (2007), http://www.bmfsfj.de/bmfsfj/generator/RedaktionBMFSFJ/Pressestelle/Pdf-Anlagen/zusammenfassung-befunde,property=pdf,bereich=,sprache=de,rwb=true.pdf (accessed September 4, 2007).
47.
Bertelsmann Foundation, " Changes in the Child Rearing Benefit."
48.
Apps and Rees, "Fertility, Taxation and Family Policy."
49.
FamilienForschung, in Wer betreut Deutschlands Kinder? FamilienForschung Baden-Württemberg, ed. Bmfsfj, Monitor2 (2005): 1-10.
