Now that the toilet wars have died down,... Jean-Marie Baland (?) and James A. Robinson published an article in 2000 in which they suggested that a good way to reduce child labor would be to let parents borrow against their children's future income. Has there been anything else written on this subject since then?
I was thinking that a similar approach could address falling birth rates (if it's something that needs to be addressed). If children could be self-financing, presumably parents would have more of them. "Childrearing loans" could make it easier for home-schooling or for one parent to stay home or for a married couple to be able to start having children earlier, etc. Could it be that a profitable market in childrearing loans might dramatically reduce the need for a social safety net? So, I was wondering what other armchair-ers think about this. If it's a good idea, what are the obstacles preventing it from being implemented? If it's a bad idea, why? Thanks for any consideration you give to this topic, James