Family |
Does the neoclassical theory of the family lead to 'preposterous conclusions'"?
Bergmann, Barbara, "Becker's Theory of the Family: Prepostrous Conclusions", in Challenge, January-February 1996, pp. 9-12.
How would a Post-Keynesian theory of the household differ from a neoclassical theory?
Hanmer, Lucia and A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi, "In 'the house of spirits': toward a Post Keynesian theory of the household" in the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Spring 1998, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 415-433.
Is the welfare system a major cause of female-headed familys?
Hoyne, Hilary Williamson, "Does Welfare Play any Role in Female Headship Decisions?" in the Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 65, 1997, pp. 89-117. FR
Do higher payments encourage more births to mothers on welfare?
Fairlee, Robert and Rebecca A. London, "The Effect of Incremental Benefit Levels on Births to AFDC Recipients", in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 16, No. 4, 1997, pp. 575-597. FR
Does the "marriage tax" increase the divorce rate?
Whittington, Leslie A. and James Alm, "'Till Death or Taxes Do Us Part", in the Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 388-412.
What has caused rising divorce rates, legal or economic factors?
Smith, Ian, "Explaining the Growth of Divorce in Great Britain", in the Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 44, No. 5, Nov. 1997. , pp. 519-544.
Do government transfers limit the ability of parents to pass on values to their children?
Chami, Ralph ans Connel Fullenkamp, "The Market Value of Family Values" in the Cato Journal, Vol. 16, No. 3, Minter 1997, pp. 339-350.
What is happening to the traditional family in Africa?
Adepoju, Aderanti, "Introduction", (Chapter 1) in Family, Population and Development, edited by aderanti Adepoju, Zed Books, 1997, pp. 1-24.
What role does the African family play in promoting migration?
Findley, Sally, "Migration and Family Interactions in Africa", (Chapter 7) in Family, Population and Development, edited by aderanti Adepoju, Zed Books, 1997, pp. 109-138.
Are Singapore's development policies really family-freindly?
Pyle, Jean, "Women, the Family and Economic Restructuring: the Singapore Model?" in the Review of Social Economy, Vol 55, No. 2, Summer 1997, pp. 215-233.
Does divorce benefit black men economically while hurting black women?
Pollock, Gene E. and Atlee L. Stroup, "Economic Consequences of Marital Dissolution for Blacks", in the Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, Vol. 26, No. 1/2, 1996, pp. 49-67. FR
Is the one-parent family bad for the children's education?
Ermisch, John F. and Francesconi, Marco, Family Matters, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 1591, Center for Economic Policy Research, February 1997.
Are the elderly cheating children out of a good education?
Poterba, James M. , "Demographic Structure and the Political economy of Public Education", in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 16, No. 1, 1997, pp. 48-66.
What will happen to the "Boomers" when they retire?
Radner, Daniel, "The Retirement Prospects of the Baby Boom Generation", in the Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 61, No. 1, 1998, pp. 3-19.
What are the economic effects of the decline of the black family?
Darrity Jr., Samuel L.Meyers, Jr. and Changjin Chung, "Racial Earnings Disparities and Family Structure", in the Southern Economic Journal, Vol.65, No. 1, pp. 20-41.
Gary Becker's Contribution to the study of the household and the family
Gary Becker has carried out an even more radical extension of the applicability of economic theory in his analysis of relations among individuals outside of the market system. The most notable example is his analysis of the functions of the family. These studies are summarized in his book, A Treatise on the Family, written in 1981.
A basic idea in Becker's analysis is that a household can be regarded as a "small factory" which produces what he calls basic goods, such as meals, a residence, entertainment, etc., using time and input of ordinary market goods, "semi-manufactures", which the household purchases on the market. In this type of analysis, prices of basic goods have two components. The first is comprised of the direct costs of purchasing intermediate goods on the market. The second is the time expenditure for production and consumption of the good in question for a specific good, this time expenditure is equivalent to wages multiplied by the time spent per unit of the good produced in the household. This implies that an increase in the wage of one member of the household gives rise not only to changed incentives for work on the market, but also to a shift from more to less time-intensive product on and consumption of goods produced by the household, i.e., basic goods. Instead of an analysis in terms of the traditional dichotomy between work and leisure, Becker's model provides a general theory for the household's allocation of time, as exemplified in the essay, A Theory of the Allocation of Time, from 1965. This approach has turned out to be a highly useful foundation for examining many different issues associated with household behavior.
Becker has gone even further. He has formulated a general theory for behavior of the family - including not only the distribution of work and the allocation of time in the family, but also decisions regarding marriage, divorce and children. As real wages increase, along with the possibilities of substituting capital for labor in housework, labor is released in the household, so that it becomes more and more uneconomical to let one member of the household specialize wholly in household production (for instance, child care). As a result, some of the family's previous social and economic functions are shifted to other institutions such as firms, schools and other public agencies. Becker has argued that these processes explain not only the increase in married women's job participation outside the home, but also the rising tendency toward divorce; see his article, Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families (coauthored by N. Tomes), 1986.
Alongside Becker's analysis of the distribution of labor and allocation of time in the household, his most influential contribution in the context of the household and the family is probably his studies on ferdlity, which were initiated in an essay entitled, An Economic Analysis of Fertility, 1960. Parents are assumed to have preferences regarding both the number and educational level of their children, where the educational level is affected by the amount of time and other resources that parents spend on their children. Investments in children's human capital may then be derived as a function of income and prices. As wages rise, parents increase their investments in human capital, combined with a decrease in the number of children. Becker uses this theory to explain, for example, the historical decline in fertility in industrialized countries, as well as the variations in fertility among different countries and between urban and rural areas. In particular, the highly extensive family policy in Sweden, to which Becker often refers, suggests the merits of an economic approach to the analysis of these issues.