Education attainment-financial rewards link makes PSLE a high-stakes rite of passage

[SINGAPORE] An interesting finding I remember from studying economics in university is the rationale for having large families in agrarian societies. Given the labour-intensive nature of cultivating land for crops in such societies, having more children raises a household’s economic productivity, especially since children start helping out at a relatively early age.

In short, in the above example, having more children generally enhances a family’s economic prospects. 

In many major cities today, children are largely seen as cost centres for possibly over 20 years. The cost of raising children can be prohibitively high, despite increasingly generous financial incentives being offered to Singapore couples to have children.