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THE VALUE O F NONMARKET HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTION: OPPORTUNITY COST VERSUS MARKET COST ESTIMATES
Author(s) -
Murphy Martin
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
review of income and wealth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.024
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1475-4991
pISSN - 0034-6586
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4991.1978.tb00051.x
Subject(s) - nonmarket forces , economics , opportunity cost , production (economics) , value (mathematics) , production cost , market value , econometrics , labour economics , microeconomics , factor market , statistics , mathematics , mechanical engineering , engineering , accounting
This paper discusses the problem of valuing the time spent on household production and presents estimates of that production for the United States in 1960 and 1970. The estimates are derived by using both opportunity cost and market cost valuations of household time. A comparative analysis of these estimates concludes first that opportunity cost estimates exceeded market cost estimates by 1.0 to 3.0 percent of the GNP. Second, the ratio of household production to the GNP, although declining slightly between 1960 and 1970, may in the long run tend to be relatively stable. These conclusions do not support the popular views that over time household production will decline in relative magnitude, or that the opportunity cost method of valuing household time, relative to the market cost method, is significantly upward biased.