A Treatise on the Family: Enlarged Edition

Gary S. Becker

Published by Harvard University Press 1991

A Treatise on the Family

Enlarged Edition

Gary S. Becker

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674020665

Overview
Contents

About this book

Using the basic economic assumptions of maximizing behavior, stable preferences, and arid equilibria in explicit or implicit markets, Becker applies economic theory to the most sensitive and fateful personal decisions, such as choosing a spouse or having children.

Reviews

Becker dazzles the reader… To challenge us collectively to think about what we could not yet explain was Gary Becker’s gift to us in the original edition of A Treatise on the Family. The new edition is a reminder that we still have far to go.
-- Debra Friedman Contemporary Sociology

The most important book on the family to appear in many years. Becker’s stark economic conception of action cuts through the romantic mist that so often blinds social scientists to the hard choices faced by families and their members.
-- Michael T. Hannan Journal of Economic Literature

Destined to have a significant impact on a number of different disciplines, including economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, demography, epidemiology, and biology.
-- Warren C. Sanderson Science

This truly pathbreaking book marries techniques and problems hitherto regarded as utterly incompatible—rigorous economic reasoning to understanding the family. The marriage is astoundingly productive. It is destined to affect the foundations of every science dealing with human behavior.
-- Milton Friedman

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface to the Enlarged Edition Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Single-Person Households Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
2. Division of Labor in Households and Families 30 Supplement: Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	30
3. Polygamy and Monogamy in Marriage Markets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
4. Assortative Mating in Marriage Markets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
5. The Demand for Children Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
6. Family Background and the Opportunities of Children Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
7. Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
8. Altruism in the Family Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
9. Families in Nonhuman Species Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307
10. Imperfect Information, Marriage, and Divorce Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	324
11. The Evolution of the Family Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	342
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	383
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	411

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 440

eBook

Published: January 21, 2022
ISBN: 9780674020665