In developing societies, historically and traditionally male has dominated both in terms of participation in household decision making as well contributing towards household income and the embeddedness of the tradition is still relevant and prevails even today in the so-called “modern era”.
Authors
Deepanshu Mohan, Associate Professor of Economics and Director, Centre for New Economics Studies (CNES), Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Richa Sekhani, Senior Research Analyst at Centre for New Economics Studies (CNES), Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, OP Jindal Global University, and Research Associate at Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER).
Jignesh Mistry, Senior Research Analyst and the Visual Storyboard Team Lead at Centre for New Economics Studies (CNES), Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Advaita Singh, Senior Research Analyst with Centre for New Economics Studies (CNES), Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Vanshika Mittal, Senior Research Analyst with Centre for New Economics Studies (CNES), Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Rekha Pachauri, Assistant Professor at Bennett University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
Sakshi Chindaliyan, Senior Research Assistant and TRIP fellow, Centre for New Economics Studies (CNES), Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Tanushree Mohan, Senior Manager in Deloitte, Canada.
Summary
In economics, most of the mainstream neo-classical literature studying the economics of householdsihas assumed a common utility and demand function in accounting for the material well-being of a household and its members( Mohan 2019).
The assumption of common utility reflected in the “common” preference and interests was first studied by Becker(1981)in his “ Unitary” model. The model also argued that men and women have a comparative advantage in market and household work respectively.
Their relative productivities lead to optimal household utility. However, a number of economists over the past few decades have critiqued Becker’s “unitary”model by studying the cooperative model ( via income pooling) between men and women in the household to maximsise the collective well-being.
While these theories paint a rosy picture of the dynamism in a family, in essence we find higher degree of non-cooperation between men and women in the households.
In developing societies, historically and traditionally male has dominated both in terms of participation in household decision making as well contributing towards household income.
The embeddedness of the tradition is still relevant and prevails even today in the so-called “modern era”.
Published in: Journal of Positive School Psychology
To read the full article, please click here.
