Allocating Time: Individuals' Technologies and Household Technology
2007/07/31
研討會日期 : 2007-07-31
時間 : 15:00
主講人 : Prof. Robert A. Pollak
地點 : B棟110室
演講者簡介 : Prof. Robert A. Pollak為Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology。
目前為Hernreich Distinguished Professor of Economics，Washington University in St. Louis。
其主要研究領域為Environmental Economics, Economics of the Family, and Consumer Economics。
演講摘要 : The household production model remains the lens through which virtually all economists and many other social scientists view household time allocation. A model of the household that allows household production involves three basic elements:, individuals' preferences, individuals' technologies and household technology, and household decision making.
I focus on the neglected relationship between individuals' technologies and household technology. Individual technologies are visible at three crucial points in the life cycle: before household formation, following divorce, and following the death of a spouse. I show that if the household technology is "additive" (i.e., the sum of the individuals' technologies), then information or assumptions about individuals' technologies implies strong restrictions on household technology and vice versa. More specifically, I show that the assumption that the household technology is additive is compatible with Becker's assumption that the spouses' time inputs are perfect substitutes only in a narrow class of implausible special cases. I argue that the standard explanations of specialization within the household rest on special assumptions about household technology and that these explanations need reconsideration.
