Volume 35, Number 2 (Spring) 2000
Lundberg, Sofia. 2000. "Child Auctions in 19th Century Sweden: An Analysis of price Differences." Journal of Human Resources 35(2):279-298.
During the nineteenth century, destitute and/or orphan Swedish children were boarded out as a part of that time's public assistance. The families to which they were allocated were determined by means of English auctions. This paper studies the price differences among such children using empirical data from 601 auctions. Price is regressed on variables related both to the buyer and to the child. The results suggest that variables related to the children's characteristics were important and that the willingness to take a poor or orphan child was dependent on the foster parents' uses for a child in the household.
The author is a PhD student of economics at Umeå University. She would like to thank Thomas Aronson, Kurt Brännäs, Tore Ellingson, Per Johansson, and Karl-Gustaf Löfgren for invaluable comments and suggestions. Financial support is gratefully acknowledged from the following research funds: the Swedish Council for research in Humanities and Social Sciences (HSFR), J C Kempes Minnes Stipendiefond, Länsförsäkringars and Sparbankens Forskningsfond, and J C Kempes Minnes Akademiska Forskningsfond. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning December 2000 through November 2003 from Sofia Lundberg, Department of Economics, Umeå University S-901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X