Abstract: Why, and to what extent, must taxpayers share the costs of raising children with parents? The most influential argument over this question has been the public goods argument: taxpayers must share costs with parents because and to the extent that child-rearing contributes towards public goods by helping to develop valuable human capital. However, political theorists have not examined the plausibility of the public goods argument in a context in which “replacement immigration” is available: if replacement migration can provide valuable human capital more efficiently than child-rearing, can the public goods argument still justify an obligation for taxpayers to share the costs of child-rearing with parents? This article argues that it can by developing the public goods argument in a new direction that has implications for the fair division of the costs of child-rearing, as well as for other controversies as well.
The meeting will be held online via Zoom.