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Allocating Household Time: When Does Efficiency Imply Specialization?

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  • Robert A. Pollak
Abstract
When does efficiency in the household imply specialization? For example, if we recognize two sectors, "market" and "household," when does efficiency imply that one spouse specializes in the market and the other in the household? If efficiency did imply specialization, then egalitarian marriages would be inefficient and an equity-efficiency tradeoff inescapable. This paper clarifies the roles that household technology and human capital play in reaching conclusions about specialization. The critical assumption that leads to the specialization conclusion in Becker's Treatise on the Family is that spouses' time inputs are perfect substitutes in household production. With no further assumptions (other than efficiency and the absence of process preferences) perfect substitutes imply specialization. Although some of Becker's proofs appear to rely on households optimally adjusting spouses' stocks of market and household human capital, the specialization conclusion does not: with perfect substitutes, efficiency implies specialization even when each spouse's stocks of human capital are fixed, regardless of the levels at which they are fixed. Other assumptions about household technology also imply the specialization conclusion. I prove that (again in the absence of process preferences) if the household technology is "additive" and exhibits constant returns to scale, then efficiency implies specialization.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert A. Pollak, 2013. "Allocating Household Time: When Does Efficiency Imply Specialization?," NBER Working Papers 19178, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19178
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    Cited by:

    1. Guiso, Luigi & Zaccaria, Luana, 2023. "From patriarchy to partnership: Gender equality and household finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 573-595.
    2. James J. Heckman, 2015. "Introduction to A Theory of the Allocation of Time by Gary Becker," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(583), pages 403-409, March.
    3. Sunha Myong & JungJae Park & Junjian Yi, 2021. "Social Norms and Fertility," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(5), pages 2429-2466.
    4. Cristina Borra & Martin Browning & Almudena Sevilla, 2021. "Marriage and housework," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 73(2), pages 479-508.
    5. Cavapozzi, Danilo & Francesconi, Marco & Nicoletti, Cheti, 2024. "Dividing Housework between Partners: Individual Preferences and Social Norms," IZA Discussion Papers 17370, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Wei Jiang & James Malley, 2015. "Fiscal multipliers in a two-sector search and matching model," Working Papers 2015_03, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    7. Lundberg, Shelly & Pollak, Robert, 2013. "Cohabitation and the Uneven Retreat from Marriage in the U.S., 1950-2010," IZA Discussion Papers 7607, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Leslie S. Stratton, 2023. "Marriage Versus Cohabitation: How Specialization and Time Use Differ by Relationship Type," Research in Labor Economics, in: Time Use in Economics, volume 51, pages 187-218, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    9. Laurens Cherchye & Bram De Rock & Khushboo Surana & Frederic Vermeulen, 2020. "Marital Matching, Economies of Scale, and Intrahousehold Allocations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 823-837, October.
    10. Spencer Bastani & Lisa Dickmanns & Thomas Giebe & Oliver Gürtler, 2022. "Competition for Promotion Can Induce Household Specialization Between Equally Competitive Spouses," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 155, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    11. Xiang Wei & Hailin Qu & Emily Ma, 2018. "Household Chores, Time Allocation and Job Performance: An Empirical Study from Chinese Manufacturing Workers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 1109-1129, October.
    12. Jesper R.-V. Soerensen, 2020. "Testing a Class of Semi- or Nonparametric Conditional Moment Restriction Models using Series Methods," Discussion Papers 20-04, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    13. Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Wei Jiang & James Malley, 2017. "Targeted fiscal policy to increase employment and wages of unskilled workers," Studies in Economics 1704, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    14. Shelly Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak, 2014. "Cohabitation and the Uneven Retreat from Marriage in the United States, 1950–2010," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital in History: The American Record, pages 241-272, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Angelopoulos, Konstantinos & Jiang, Wei & Malley, James, 2015. "Fiscal multipliers in a two-sector search and matching model," 2007 Annual Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2007, Portland, Oregon TN 2015-67, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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