06.11.2023 Households#

Definition#

Household:

  • unit of residence comprised of one / more individuals

  • common provision of shared resources

  • decisions relevant for economic processes

diverse institutions, vary by size:

img

Economic Interest in Households:

  • economic unit with allocative decisions

  • Non-market production of goods

Feminist Interest in HH

  • Invisible / devalued repro. work

  • inequal allocation of responsibilities

New Household Economics#

Neoclassical Econ and HH

  • not compatible with methodological individualism

  • household utility function as function of individuals

Gary Becker’s New Household Economics:

  • Producer of Market / Non Market Goods

    • Market Good = Labour

    • Non Market Good = Care-Work, Meals etc

    • Primary Input = Time

  • scarce resource = time & income

  • single utility function

Assumptions:

  • income-pooling hypothesis

  • altruistic household head

Focus on Comparative Advantage

  • drives specialisation in specific activities

  • lower OC of low-paid member => focus on care work

  • reinforces inequality between men and women

Feminist Critique#

  • joint welfare function does not exist

    • empirical gender bias against girls (malnutrition)

  • Paradox of altruism in HH and selfish in market

    • why not selfish in HH?

  • HH labor is not substitutable

    • male labor does not subst. when women work more wage-labour

  • Income Pooling

    • empirical evidence against (antropological and economical)

    • Individual incomes => not maximize HH welfare

  • stark focus on heterosexual nuclear families

Relevant Question for Analysis of a Region / People / Group:

  • What are the significant units of production / consumption?

  • What are the major flows and transfers of resources between units & indiv.?

Households in FPE#

Work in HH:

  • industrialization = separation of work into physical factories

  • structural divide: factory = profit, HH = non-profit

  • HH work is devalued

  • not accounted for in Indicatos (e.g GDP)

Households = Institutions (not microeconomic)

  • embedded in socio-economic system

  • external relations are relevant

Relations in HH:

  • site of production and social reproduction

  • with internal power relations

  • state mediates Relations between HH and global markets

    • e.g. regualtion on remittances