DOWNLOAD ~ Matrimony and Microeconomics a Critique of Gary Becker's Analysis of Marriage. " by Journal of Markets & Morality ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Matrimony and Microeconomics a Critique of Gary Becker's Analysis of Marriage.
- Author : Journal of Markets & Morality
- Release Date : January 22, 1998
- Genre: Business & Personal Finance,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 247 KB
Description
Of the economists who have influenced the direction of mainstream economic theory in the latter half of the twentieth century, Gary Becker tops the list. Professor Becker, more than any other economist of our time, has legitimized the application of neoclassical theory into areas previously considered unorthodox. Certainly other economists, many writing from the tradition of the Chicago School (as does Becker), previously examined areas such as crime, the family, and human capital; Becker brought these areas of study into the mainstream of microeconomic analysis. This is a significant accomplishment in a subject area in which most theorists are in agreement as to its major principles. For redefining this mainstream, Becker was certainly deserving of his Nobel prize in economics in 1992. But while Becker's analysis of the family is the subject area for which he is most closely identified, it is also the area for which he is the most controversial. When Becker trumpets the role of economic forces in the development and operation of families, he suggests reasons why the development of nontraditional, non-nuclear families is congruent with economic laws, and why their development is to be expected today and even predicted in the future. For instance, Becker recognizes that the primary motivating factor in human action is self-interest, an indisputable basis from which to begin. Most economists accept the self-interest axiom in the development of utility-maximizing models of human behavior. But Becker takes this axiom a step further and asserts that utility-maximization applies to both market and non-market production. In this case, just as the individual who is not maximizing the profit received from market work is expected to search for ways to improve his return, even to the extent that he might switch jobs, so, too, is there a tendency to make the same corrections in non-market utility maximization. Since this production occurs primarily in the home, it explains why people tend to get married and also why people tend to get divorced. People will marry when they think that they can achieve a greater degree of utility in that state than when single, and they divorce when they feel that they can achieve a greater degree of utility in that state than when married. Thus, just as neoclassical theory explains why individuals change jobs, it explains changes in marital status as well.