HOUSEWORK VS. MARKETWORK: SOME EVIDENCE HOW THE DECISION IS MADE

Marianne A. Ferber and Carole A. Greene

Review of Income and Wealth, 1983, vol. 29, issue 2, 147-159

Abstract: Empirical research using the opportunity cost approach to estimating the value of non‐market work of women tends to focus on the value of actual or potential output produced at home and expected or actual earnings, and assume that a rational decision involves choosing the higher one. Evidence derived from data on young married women suggests that full‐time homemakers frequently are unable to provide estimates either of their potential earnings or of the lowest wage they would accept to enter the labor market, and that such estimates as they do provide are not soundly based. We also found that using wages of women in the labor market to estimate the value of the home time of full‐time homemakers involves upward bias. We conclude that there are good reasons for caution in using the opportunity cost approach.

Date: 1983
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