Household Production Theory
Treat Household as a Firm
Output is Utility
G=goods
T= Time
U = F(G, T)
Household Production Theory
Goods
Isoquant; Slope = -(MUt /MUG)
G0
Budget constraint; Slope = -(W/P)
U
t0
Home Time
Wages and Goods Intensive vs
Time Intensive Home Production
How do we cook?
Huffman, 2006. “The Story Behind the Post-War Decline in Women’s Housework: Prices, Income,
Family Size and Technology Effects in a Demand System
Huffman, 2006. “The Story Behind the Post-War Decline in Women’s Housework: Prices, Income,
Family Size and Technology Effects in a Demand System
Daily time allocation to meal preparation, by gender and income
Lisa Mancino and Constance Newman Who Has Time To Cook? How Family Resources Influence Food
Preparation May 2007. USDA ERRN 40. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ERR40/err40.pdf
Daily time allocation to meal preparation for women, by income and market
work intensity
Lisa Mancino and Constance Newman Who Has Time To Cook? How Family Resources Influence Food
Preparation May 2007. USDA ERRN 40. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ERR40/err40.pdf
Births per 1000 women aged 15-44, 1920-1998
140
120
100
Rate
80
60
Depression
40
20
0
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
Year
1970
1980
1990
2000
Quantity Quality Tradeoff in
Fertility Behavior
How do wages affect household
size?
Mammen, Kristen and Christina Paxson. “Women’s Work and Economic Development.”
Journal of Economic Perspectives 14 (Fall 2000): 141-162.
Mammen, Kristen and Christina Paxson. “Women’s Work and Economic Development.”
Journal of Economic Perspectives 14 (Fall 2000): 141-162.
How should spouses divide
market and home time?
How do relative wages affect time
allocation?
Weekly Hours Spent in Work and Leisure by Men and Women,
Age 25-64, in the United States, 1965–1981
Average time in home production per
week for married men and women
Men
17.7
Women
29.8
Men spend 9 more hours per week in the labor market
Hersch and Stratton, Journal of Human Resources, Winter 2002.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Variations in Time Use at Stages of the Life Cycle.” Monthly Labor Review 128
(September 2005): 38-45.
Father
Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Variations in Time Use at Stages of the Life Cycle.” Monthly Labor Review 128
(September 2005): 38-45.
Minutes per day spent in total market and nonmarket work for men
and women, 21 countries
Equal minutes per day
Fitted line,
nonMeditaranean countries
Fitted line, Meditaranean
countries
U.S. difference is 4
minutes
Michael Burda, Daniel Hamermesh, and Philippe Weil. 2006. "TOTAL WORK,
GENDER AND SOCIAL NORMS,"