Hi,

1) Two parents, gender not relevant (or only so far as permitted under 3) below (social)

2) Enough money that one or other or both of the parents can feed, clothe, house, send time with and educate their offspring (economic)

3) A political system in which authority is shared with the consensual individual through some form of power-sharing arrangement via a social contract, usually expressed through some form of democratic and representative assembly, or series of assemblies

(political).

Of course, the political answer is the longest, and most difficult to achieve, because that is the nature of politics...

Tim

Dual earners has also been a big change.

Of course economic factors, but also social (education is very important), and polítical because Nowadays is crucial support families with low income for the government. This measure is to prevent family desintegration.

Social = whether there is only one parent and if there are two, whether the parents are married or not which affects the stability of (financial) child support and this is where legislation (e.g. some European countries) comes in to magnify the role of marriage and responsibility towards the child(ren)

Economic = intra-household allocation, assume equal division of financial resources or are these resources divided based on some type of bargaining between the father and mother? Can the state step in to correct inequities? For example: in the UK, health and welfare benefits are tied to mother and child, does not need to include the father.

Political = one possible contribution to this vast area is this. In Singapore, the underlying philosophy is personal responsibility defined as the family is responsible for itself and government intervention in welfare will be minimal. This translates into how important the family unit is in politics. Preference for public housing will be given to married couples (who have established a family unit) as opposed to single people (no family unit).

in Mexico, government is supporting families with low incomes, single mother, people from 65 years, etc.

To strengthen the family as the nucleus of society, nowadays, that do need various public policies. One relates to greater peace of mind at work, ie, with respect to decreasing the risk or the fear of losing your job anytime and for no reason. For a person who maintains a family, that risk is a potential source of family conflict - or maybe family's dissolution. Another issue is the drugs or violence in general: while parents are working, there is a veritable army of people who can harass the children, taking them to the underworld of drugs. Other issues could be addressed, but I believe that only those already fulfill the agenda of any governor.

Dear all.

thank you for your interesting and thoughtful answers. I think I should clarify my question a little bit,. I have found in my latest research that family is one of the key ingredients of achieving development especially in the MENA region with more traditional ways of living. Therefore I am trying to find out if there are any ways in which we could (as policy makers) improve the affection an individual gets from his/her family.

Getting affection from the family is not a matter of state intervention. Love and affection are within the private realm of the family. The state should not be interfering and more importantly there isn't anything that the state can do. If families are messed up and can't "produce" more affection for the individual, this is a behavioral issue that as far as economists are concerned, should remain a private matter.

So what is your hypothesis again? You have two variables, family and development. Could you please re-formulate your hypothesis? There is probably an intervening variable called "affection" and how do you measure that (or do you have an operational definition)?

Child is father/mother of man; the development of child socially, morally and healthily needs family care with stable father and mother or parental relations. A sound relation between man and women with life-long commitments could assure a sound development of child thereby the society. Economic and political factors are mere support systems.

I agree with you Dr. Arjun Pangannavar, because in Mexican case women had to work because of money, but They didn´t care her children, that´s why family desintegration is a problem. Too many parents become distracted by all that society is offering, and they fail to focus time and instruction toward their children.

We find affection between male and female animals and birds in raring and caring their babies, in wild-life. This is good lesson to man-kind. Such lessons teach us to have a sound and firm family. Millions of people of India are happy with their family because they belied in family concepts. Jobs supplement their family income to meet family needs. Political factor cannot disturb family life.

Dr. Arjun Pangannavar I find a key word in his commentary "family income to meet family needs". I think that economic factor can disturb family life, It´s the principal problem in the world.

If there is proper understanding and trust among family members there is no question of disturbance in family life.Supplementing of family income through woman-members could improve the standard of living of the family.

Thanks for your great insight in the matter Dr.Arjun. However, I was wondering, this trust you speak of; how is it created? What are the influential factors it has and what factors have an influence on it? You also mentioned belief in family as a key concept in one of your earlier comments. where does this belief come from? what are its factors? how can it be interpreted or intervened?

It all depends upon the family-environment and our belief in social and family bindings. Mutual-respect and mutual-belief among the family members could beget the truth that keeps the family happy and undisturbed.

Cultural and religion can also play a fundamental role in the equation

Evans, It´s true culture and religion are important factors that influence in the family as an institution, but money is so important, because many women have to work to support income in their families, and they not care their children. Education is at home, not in the schools

I feel that the biggest force is security. Before the industrial revolution families were the provider of social security. Many children were needed so that at least some were alive to look after their parents who had no pension and provident funds. In societies were social security is well established the size of families is declining. Of course also when women have aspirations to join the work force: the birth of the first child is much later and fertility declines.......Agricultural societies have bigger family sizes than industrial societies... The iggest force to achieve smaller families is to remove poverty and to provide -as mentioned int he beginning- security.

Michele Gragnolati, Ole Hagen Jorgensen, Romero Rocha, Anna Fruttero

Growing Old in an Older Brazil: Implications of Population Aging on Growth, Poverty, Public Finance and Service Delivery

World Bank Publications

2011

Nancy Birdsall, Allen C. Kelley, Steven Sinding

Population Matters: Demographic Change, Economic Growth, and Poverty in the Developing World

2001

Family has a key role to promote values.

Values are important to promote family strenghs

trust in Marriages ,child & elder care are greater strength of family

“As primary agents of socialization, families remain a vital means of preserving and transmitting cultural values. In a broad sense, families can, and often do, educate, train, motivate and support their individual bers, thereby investing in their future growth and acting as a vital resource for development” United Nations, POPULATION INFORMATION NETWORK (POPIN)

Values and economic situation have a key rol that influence the family's structure,