He showed how this insight could predict trends in female labor-force participation and birth rates, and led to the policy conclusion that the best way to lower high birth rates in poor countries was to educate women. Better education would raise women’s wages, making staying at home more costly, and would lead to higher female labor-force participation and a voluntary decline in birth rates.
比如，将孩子建模为耐用商品的概念可能让一些人感到愚不可及，但贝克尔却因此得以分析父母亲的时间和财务资源配置。他展示了如何用这一洞见预测女性劳动力参与率和生育率，并因此得出了降低穷国高生育率的最佳方式是教育女性的政策结论。改善教育能提高女性工资，让不上班的代价更加高昂，从而产生更高的女性劳动力参与率和自愿的出生率下降。