Families: Economic Functions and Decision-Making

Megan McDonald Way (mway@babson.edu)
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Megan McDonald Way: Babson College

Chapter Chapter 2 in Family Economics and Public Policy, 1800s–Present, 2018, pp 23-44 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter introduces readers to the field of family economics. It defines “family” from an economics perspective and then details the economic functions of the family: human capital creation, social capital creation, household production of goods and services, economies of scale and public goods provisioning, consumption and savings decisions, and risk-sharing and self-insurance. Then it looks at three models of household decision-making: altruism, bargaining, and exchange. The way economists would analyze public policies depends on assumptions about families’ decision-making, and the chapter illustrates how the different models affect policy analysis.

Keywords: familiesFamilies; bargainingBargaining; marriageMarriage; Public goodsPublic Goods; Human capitalHuman Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:psichp:978-1-137-43963-5_2

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DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-43963-5_2

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