The household production model remains the lens through which many social scientists and virtually all economists view time allocation within households. Adults'investments in their own human capital require time as well as money (e.g., going to classes;studying). Health economists view individuals as investing time and money to increase their stock of """"""""health capital"""""""" (e.g.,exercising, getting screening tests). Investments in a child's human capital often involve the time of a parent as well as that of the child (e.g., reading or doing homework with a child). Caregiving for children and the disabled elderly is a time-intensive activity that may involve the time of family members and/or nonfamily members. The household production model allows us to focus on the trade offs among alternative uses of family time and the trade off between family time and earning money to purchase market goods and services. Despite substantial developments in other areas of family economics, the theory of household production and time allocation has remained virtually stagnant for the past 15 years. Although bargaining has become the dominant paradigm for investigating family decision making, most empirical papers on time use continue to rely on pre-bargaining models of family decision making. An objective of the proposed research is the integration of household production and time allocation into the family bargaining paradigm. Such integration, however, requires a better understanding of the relationship between """"""""household technology"""""""" and the technologies of the individuals in the household. This relationship is especially interesting at three crucial transition points: household formation;divorce;and the death of a spouse. Since the publication of Becker's Treatise On The Family in 1981, the household production literature has emphasized the advantages of specialization and division of labor within the family. My proposed research on household production and time allocation will identify data needs and new empirical approaches using existing data sets. The outcome will be a better understanding of the ways in which individuals and families allocate their time and invest in health and human capital.
Adults'investments in their own human capital as well as that of their children require time as well as money. Health economists view individuals as investing time and money to increase their stock of """"""""health capital"""""""" (e.g., exercising, getting screening tests). Caregiving for children and the disabled elderly is a time-intensive activity that may involve the time of family members and/or nonfamily members. The outcome of this research will be a better understanding of the ways in which individuals and families allocate their time and invest in their own and their children's health capital and other forms of human capital.
