So says Mick Watson, chair of Brandeis University's Department of Psychology, in this Planet Money Podcast. According to Watson, children were once (and in many places, still are) considered economic contributors to the financial security of the family. With the rise of industrialization in the west, child labor became superfluous. Thus, economically speaking says Watson, "we no longer need children. They have become luxury items."

Median total cost of raising a child on the west or east coast, last I checked, was north of $250,000, not including a private university education that can easily add another $150,000. Seems like at least a mass luxury item to me.

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