Costi dei figli, valore dei figli. Economia e cultura nelle scelte riproduttive

Abstract

Economic aspects are generally considered as important variables in explaining the Italian low fertility rate: the cost of children – either direct or opportunity costs – heavily  influences reproductive choices. Furthermore, we have to take into account both the availability and the costs of family services, which consistently vary across the Italian regions. Literature on family in Italy has often highlighted the importance of kinship support networks, based on the spatial proximity of the family: such networks are effective both in integrating familiar economic resources and in coping with the deficiencies of welfare.

Based on an ethnographic research focused on the reproductive behaviours and  structure of the family in two Italian cities, Bologna and Naples, this study compares two groups of families and aims at showing how important role of affective kinship resources and complementary financial contributions can be in providing support and services, to the effect of influencing the household economy. In Naples and in Bologna, which are very different cities as regards income, services availability and general urban organization, kinship solidarities take different shapes and values. Such solidarities consistently support families, women especially, in  affording the  several costs of children, which are distributed at different levels: not only and not necessarily do the economic aspects play in the foreground.