The modern theory of public goods offers a number of ideas and techniques which have interesting applications to the theory of the makeup of households and to decision-making within the households that form. Much of the theory of public finance has been worked out with large groups in mind, but the results are applicable with some interesting twists to the case of small groups like households. Becker and others have found rich applications of economic theory to the behavior of households and to the theory of marriage, work which has profoundly affected all social science research relating to population and the family. We believe that this work can be carried much further and that the insights of modern public finance and game theory will help us to do so. We therefore plan to investigate a number of applications of public goods theory and economic equilibrium theory to the issues of household composition and household activities. The research will address issues in the economics of the household in the United States and in developing countries. Since """"""""household public goods"""""""" are a pervasive element of the household in all cultural settings, careful analysis of their implications will increase our understanding of both the causes and consequences of recent changes in family structure in developing countries and in the United States.
