Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi

In view of the extreme importance of understanding the relationships between economic and demographic behaviour in rural Kenya, this paper outlines a proposed econometric research undertaken, utilising the data from the Kenya Government's integrated rural survey. The proposed analysis focuses on the income, saving and demographic decisions made at the household level and the interactions between these decisions and the roles children play in the household. Parents are assumed to allocate their children's time between education and work in the household enterprise, with each of the alternatives having different implications for household behaviour. Additional research into the determinants of each child's main activity, the determinants of woman's fertility experience, and the expenditure behaviour of the household is described. Finally, a non-technical description of the empirical methodology to be employed is presented.