Familiäre Arbeitsteilung - Versagt der ökonomische Erklärungsansatz? / The Division of Labour between Family Members - Is the Economic Approach Obsolete?

Seel Barbara ()
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Seel Barbara: Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Haushalts- und Konsumökonomik, Fruwirthstraße 48, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany

Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), 1999, vol. 219, issue 5-6, 692-711

Abstract: It has been argued that the increasing labour market participation of married women with children can be understood as a process of gender despecialization which is not in accordance with the propositions of the production theoretic approach to household behaviour. The idea of this paper is to show that - by extending the production theoretic model beyond the limits of neoclassical thinking - it is possible to explain non-specialization within the framework of the economic approach to family behaviour so that it is not necessary to have recourse to "non-economic" reasoning.In order to do this a linear model of time use and consumption within families is developed. This model explains processes of specialization and despecialization within families in a context of restrictions in the labour market, consumption demands and characteristics of the consumption technology of the household. A multidimensional time concept is used. Implications of joint consumption are taken into account. The method consists in simulating alternative constellations of data starting from a linear optimization model which is based on the tradition of the Lancasterian theory of consumption. The results show that non-specialization is not in contrast to conclusions which can be drawn from production theoretic modelling.

Keywords: Household production theory; division of labour between family members; Lancaster-type household models.; Produktionstheorie des Haushalts; Familiäre Arbeitsteilung; Haushaltsmodell vom Lancaster-Typ.; Household production theory; division of labour between family members; Lancaster-type household models. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:219:y:1999:i:5-6:p:692-711:n:1012

DOI: 10.1515/jbnst-1999-5-627

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