[Family, fertility, and income distribution: is there a reason for political activities?]

"State interventionism in the family...is usually justified as a necessary correction of allocative and/or distributive distortions. A critical analysis of this argument, however, reveals three related aspects: 1) A changed regenerative behaviour is often less the result of inefficient inter-family decisions; rather it results from an efficient reaction to changed economic and political conditions. 2) Optimal inter-family decisions can be prevented by imperfect capital markets and interventionism of the welfare state. 3) A receding rate of fertility leads probably not only to a more even inter- and intra-family distribution of income, but also influences the inter-generational distribution in a positive way." (SUMMARY IN ENG)