This link is from a PBS seqment on Emily Oster, an economics professor at Brown. Oster opines about several aspects of parenting.

1. Oster invokes the concept of marginal utility (MU) in discussing parenting and childcare, what activity does she refer to, and what does she say about MU?

2. Given your answer above, consider the case for Consumer Equilibrium; suppose there was just one other activity/good that parents consume (for example, toilet training - feel free to substitute your own ideas here). What would be the conditions for Consumer Equilibrium between these 2 goods or activities, and how would you define the variables necessary for equilibrium to exist?

3. Given your answer in #2, are the definitions of the variables you defined differently for Oster than for other parents? In particular, Oster's MU is by definition different from other parents. What about the other variables you defined in #2, how do they differ across parents? Also, what about the larger question of affordability, since Consumer Equilibrium does not address this, is there an additional question of equity and quality of childcare that might be addressed?