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The optimal design of assisted reproductive technologies policies
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The optimal design of assisted reproductive technologies policies

Author

Listed:
  • Marie-Louise Leroux
  • Pierre Pestieau
  • Grégory Ponthière

Abstract

This paper studies the optimal design of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) policies in an economy where individuals differ in their reproductive capacity (or fecundity) and in their wage. We find that the optimal ART policy varies with the postulated social welfare criterion. Utilitarianism redistributes only between individuals with unequal fecundity and wages but not between parents and childless individuals. To the opposite, ex post egalitarianism (which gives absolute priority to the worst-off in realized terms) redistributes from individuals with children toward those without children, and from individuals with high fecundity toward those with low fecundity, so as to compensate for both the monetary cost of ART and for the disutility from involuntary childlessness resulting from unsuccessful ART investments. Under asymmetric information and in order to solve for the incentive problem, utilitarianism recommends also to either tax or subsidize ART investments of low-fecundity-low productivity individuals depending on the degree of complementarity between fecundity and ART in the fertility technology. On the opposite, ex post egalitarianism always recommends marginal taxation. Cet article étudie la conception optimale des politiques de procréation médicalement assistée (PMA) dans une économie où les individus diffèrent dans leur capacité de reproduction (ou fécondité) et dans leur salaire. Nous constatons que la politique optimale en matière de PMA varie en fonction du critère de bien-être social considéré. L'utilitarisme opère une redistribution uniquement entre les individus dont la fécondité et le salaire sont inégaux, mais pas entre les parents et les individus sans enfant. Au contraire, l'égalitarisme ex-post (qui donne la priorité absolue aux personnes les plus mal loties en termes de réalisation) redistribue des individus ayant des enfants vers ceux qui n'en ont pas, et des individus à forte fécondité vers ceux à faible fécondité, de manière à compenser à la fois le coût monétaire des PMA et la désutilité liée à l'absence involontaire d'enfants résultant d'investissements infructueux dans les PMA. En cas d'asymétrie d'information et afin de résoudre les problèmes d’incitation, l'utilitarisme recommande également de taxer ou de subventionner les investissements en PMA des individus à faible fécondité et faible productivité, en fonction du degré de complémentarité entre fécondité et investissements en PMA dans la technologie de fertilité. A l'inverse, l'égalitarisme ex-post recommande toujours la taxation marginale.

Suggested Citation

  • Marie-Louise Leroux & Pierre Pestieau & Grégory Ponthière, 2022. "The optimal design of assisted reproductive technologies policies," CIRANO Working Papers 2022s-19, CIRANO.
    • Handle: RePEc:cir:cirwor:2022s-19
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fertilité; technologies de reproduction assistéé; fiscalité non linéaire; idéologie utilitariste; égalitarisme ex post; fertility; assisted reproductive technologies; non-linear taxation; utilitarianism; ex-post egalitarianism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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