Abstract

This paper provides a framework for answering the question: How can EMU be expected to affect the children of Europe? It makes the link between macroeconomic analysis and family welfare, a link important for all age groups, but particularly so for children. The policy choices of the ECB are often modelled in terms of the variability of output and inflation, but these are intermediate rather than final goals. The paper examines the relation with employment, wage levels, take-home pay, interest rates, consumer prices, and public services. The paper proposes new indicators of economic performance which are sensitive to the needs of families and children: a child-focused unemployment rate, a European price index for families with children, and measures of the cost of borrowing for families.