Family economics

Family economics applies economic concepts such as production, division of labor, distribution, and decision making to the family. It is used to explain outcomes unique to family—such as marriage, the decision to have children, fertility, time devoted to domestic production, and dowry payments using economic analysis.

The family, although recognized as fundamental from Adam Smith onward, received little systematic treatment in economics before the 1960s. Important exceptions are Thomas Robert Malthus' model of population growth and Friedrich Engels' pioneering work on the structure of family, the latter being often mentioned in Marxist and feminist economics. Since the 1960s, family economics has developed within mainstream economics, propelled by the new home economics started by Gary Becker, Jacob Mincer, and their students. Standard themes include:

• Altruism in the family, including the rotten kid theorem.
• Child health and mortality.
• Family organization, background, and opportunities for children.
• Fertility and the demand for children in developed and developing countries.
• Human capital, social security, and the rise and fall of families.
• Intergenerational mobility and inequality, including the bequest motive.
• Interrelation and trade-off of 'quantity' and 'quality' of children through investment of time and other resources of parents.
• Macroeconomics of the family.
• Mate selection, search costs, marriage, divorce, and imperfect information.
• Sexual division of labor, intra-household bargaining, and the household production function.

Several surveys, treatises, and handbooks are available on the subject.