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The Value of Time Spent in Home Production
Author(s) -
Murphy Martin
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1976.tb02998.x
Subject(s) - production (economics) , value (mathematics) , variety (cybernetics) , convention , economics , wage , time value of money , work (physics) , labour economics , microeconomics , sociology , mathematics , engineering , social science , finance , mechanical engineering , statistics
A bstract . For a variety of reasons the monetary value of time spent in home production , expecially by housewives , is of interest to lawyers, economists, sociologists and various other groups in society. By convention, economists value this time on the basis of the wage paid to a hired replacement. The model developed in this paper shows that this approach requires general assumptions concerning the nature of work and home production which are unduly restrictive and frequently contrary to observation. As a result, the conventional methodology cannot be adapted to individual circumstances and consequently yields misleading results. By contrast, the methodology suggested here can be applied on a case by case basis.