The
familyFamily denotes a group of people or animals affiliated by a consanguinity, affinity or co-residence...
, although recognized as fundamental from
Adam SmithAdam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
on, received
little systematic treatment in
economicsEconomics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
before the 1950s. A significant exception was Thomas Malthus's model of population growth. The work of Gary Becker and others initiated contemporary research on
family economics with the application and extension of
microeconomic theoryMicroeconomics is a branch of economics that studies how households and firms make decisions to allocate limited resources, typically in markets where goods or services are being bought and sold...
and empirical methods. Standard aspects include:
Discussion
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The
familyFamily denotes a group of people or animals affiliated by a consanguinity, affinity or co-residence...
, although recognized as fundamental from
Adam SmithAdam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
on, received
little systematic treatment in
economicsEconomics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
before the 1950s. A significant exception was Thomas Malthus's model of population growth. The work of Gary Becker and others initiated contemporary research on
family economics with the application and extension of
microeconomic theoryMicroeconomics is a branch of economics that studies how households and firms make decisions to allocate limited resources, typically in markets where goods or services are being bought and sold...
and empirical methods. Standard aspects include:
- fertility and the demand for children in developed and developing countries
- child health and mortality
- interrelation and trade-off
A trade-off is a situation that involves losing one quality or aspect of something in return for gaining another quality or aspect...
of 'quantity' and 'quality' of children through investment of time and other resources of parents
- altruism
Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Sikhism, and many others. Also, altruism is a key aspect of many...
in the family, including the rotten kid theoremGary Becker's theorem of social interaction, colloquially known as the rotten kid theorem, suggests that family members, even if they are selfish, will act to help one another if their financial incentives are properly linked....
- sexual division of labor through the household production function
Consumers often choose not directly from the commodities that they purchase but from commodities they transform into goods through a household production function. It is these goods that they value. The idea was originally proposed by Gary Becker and Kelvin Lancaster in the mid 1960s.- Example :A...
and outside the household.
- mate selection
Assortative mating takes place when sexually reproducing organisms tend to mate with individuals that are like themselves in some respect or dissimilar...
, search costs, marriage, divorce, and imperfect informationIn game theory, a game is said to have perfect information if all players know all moves that have taken place.
- family background and opportunities of children.
- intergenerational mobility and inequality, including the bequest motive
A bequest motive seeks to provide an economic justification for the phenomenon of gratuitous, intergenerational transfers of wealth. In other words, to explain why people leave money behind when they die....
.
- human capital
Human capital refers to the stock of skills and knowledge embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value. It is the skills and knowledge gained by a worker through education and experience...
, social securitySocial security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection, or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
, and the rise and fall of families.