Division of Labor Studies, Indiana University Bloomington, Poplars 628, Bloomington, IN 47405-3085, USA. E-mail: lduggan@indiana.edu

¹This paper is a revised version of a paper presented at the Allied Social Sciences Association conference, San Francisco, January 5–7, 1996 and at the conference, Il Costo Dei Figli [The Cost of Children], Bologna, September 27–28, 1996.

Abstract

This paper examines differences in the costs and subsidies of childrearing in East and West Germany in 1989–1990. A model of childrearing costs is followed by a review of research comparing the distribution of such costs in East and West Germany and a review of methodology for estimating parents' foregone earnings and leisure. The latter are then estimated, using German Socio-Economic Panel data on households with male–female co-resident parents. These estimates are followed by analyses of the distribution of childrearing costs among mothers, fathers, and the state in each country, based on alternate assumptions regarding household income pooling.