夫妻間資源分派決策機制的形成及其對子女管教與教育的影響

Mechanisms of Resources Allocation Decision-Making among Married Couples and the Effects on Child Rearing and Education

本研究的主要目的，在分析夫妻決策機制的形成和子女管教及教育安排彼此間的互動關係，分成兩個層次的問題來討論。我們首先分析夫妻對於子女教育資源分派決策機制的決定因素，其次觀察不同的決策機制下對子女教育安排是否有顯著的影響。基本的發現是台灣家庭的人力資本投資決策機制支持個人化偏好模型的假說，而不同的家庭決策模式確實影響子女管教與教育的資源分派結果。決定夫妻對於子女管教個別決策的主要因素是夫妻的所得能力，有工作的配偶一方有較高的傾向決定子女管教。此外，結婚時有嫁妝會增加妻子決策的機率，但是和婆婆同住則會增加夫妻共同決策或先生決策機率，降低妻子決策的機率。先生擔任決策者時傾向於為子女教育遷移戶口或遷居，而妻子擔任決策者則比較關注子女出國的安排和教育基金的準備。這些發現除了有助於釐清家庭決策的形成機制和子女人力資本投資之間的關連性，也指出福利政策在設計評估時，必須考慮夫妻間不同的決策模式及其對於家庭成員福利水準的可能影響。

The purpose of this study was twofold. We first analyzed determinants of child rearing decisions among married couples, and then we examined whether various decision-making mechanisms resulted in different outcomes of the child’s educational arrangements. Our findings indicated that intact Taiwanese couples behaved consistently with individualistic preference model in which the earning ability significantly determined the couple’s decision-making power. The spouse with a job had a stronger tendency to decide on matters related to the education of children. Extra-environmental parameters such as dowry paid would increase the probability of wife’s decision-making, but the reverse would be true for the case in which the couple co-resides with their mother-in-law. In the latter case, the probability of joint decisions or decisions by the husband increased at the expense of the likelihood of decisions by the wife. Accordingly, the child’s educational arrangements were substantially affected by different decision-makers. If the husband made decision, he tended to focus on moving residential registration to better educational districts or migrating to urban area, whereas if the wife made decision, she tended to care more about child’s overseas study and educational fund raising. These findings help to clarify the relationship between the formation of the family decision mechanisms and human capital investment arrangement on the child. They also shed light on the design and evaluations of the social welfare policies with regard to the possible effects on the various decision making patterns among the couples and thus on the well-being of their family members.