New Home Vs Femminist Economics Flashcards
Becker’s core assumptions
The family is a unit whose adult members make rational decisions about how to maximise the utility of the unit
Does this by selecting a combination of commodities which its members derive the greatest amount of utility
Commodities are produced by combining the home time of the family members with g/s purchased in the market
Theory of Time Allocation
How the time of each individual should be allocated between home and the market to most efficiently maximise satisfaction
Human Capital Theory
The traditional gendered division of labour likely to magnify differences in household/market production because both types of skills ‘increase on the job’
Disadvantages of Specialisation (6)
Simple model assumes only one type of home good when tasks performed in the household are typically quite varied
Doesn’t consider utility/disutility derived from work itself
Life Cycle Changes; comparative advantage likely varies over the life cycle
Interdependence; more vulnerable to unemployment, sickness etc…
Tastes and Bargaining Power
Domestic violence
Other economic advantages of marriage (7)
Economies of scale Public goods Externalities in consumption Gains from shared consumption Marriage-Specific Investments Risk Pooling Institutional Advantages
Bargaining models
Allow for spouse to have different preferences; potential conflicts over distribution and outcomes through a process of negotiating
Bargaining power is determined by the…
Threat point
Elements influencing the threat point are…(3)
Labour market earnings
Governing divorce
Probability of remarriage
Threat point
The level of well-being each spouse would receive if the couple cannot reach agreement within the marriage
Feminist economist
Nelson
Economists behind bargaining models
McElroy and Horney
