What Should Families Want? From Hazel Kyrk to Margaret Reid and Beyond

Miriam Bankovsky

A chapter in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Symposium on Hazel Kyrk's:A Theory of Consumption100 Years after Publication, 2024, vol. 41D, pp 95-116 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: Hazel Kyrk’s recognised contributions include a shift in analytic focus from production to consumption, pioneering work to measure household production as part of family income, empirical studies of family behaviour, and contributions to policy. But her account of ‘wise’ consumption and its intersection with ‘high’ living standards is not well understood. The three aims of this chapter are to explain ‘wise’ consumption across Kyrk’s three major books, to consider its role in Kyrk’s empirical studies, and to explain why it fell into oblivion. Tackling what Wesley Mitchell described as the ‘most baffling of difficulties’, Kyrk explained what constitutes a family’s ‘good’ in a manner that was critical of mere emulation. Her 1923 book required that wise consumption include new and personal elements. Her 1929/1933 book detailed five qualitative criteria (balance between interests, full and varied experiences, originality, rational sources of satisfaction, and the use of scientific information). But her 1953 book weakened this normative language, reflecting Margaret Reid’s view that Kyrk’s account was too demanding. Although Kyrk felt wise consumption avoided paternalism, her peers disagreed (Hoyt, 1938/1945;Reid, 1938/1945). We close with some problems with Kyrk’s account and a brief consideration of its continuing relevance.

Keywords: Family; living standards; consumption; consumer economics; Kyrk; household production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rhetzz:s0743-41542024000041d007

DOI: 10.1108/S0743-41542024000041D007

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