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Valuing Lost Home Production Of Dual Earner Couples

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  • Christopher House
  • John Laitner
  • Dmitriy Stolyarov

Abstract

Using a life-cycle model in which women divide their time between home and market work, we establish a link between retirement wealth and the value of forgone home production. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study to estimate the model's parameters and adjust the growth rate of GDP to reflect reductions in nonmarket output. We find that the value of forgone home production is modest-about 25% of women's measured earnings. Copyright ©2008 by the Economics Department Of The University Of Pennsylvania And Osaka University Institute Of Social And Economic Research Association.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher House & John Laitner & Dmitriy Stolyarov, 2008. "Valuing Lost Home Production Of Dual Earner Couples," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(2), pages 701-736, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:ier:iecrev:v:49:y:2008:i:2:p:701-736
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    1. How much did marketization of home production contribute to GDP?
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2008-09-03 21:05:00
    2. L'analyse économique ne se limite pas au seul marché
      by bertrandachou@orange.fr (Bertrand Achou) in BS Initiative on 2014-08-20 12:19:23

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    3. Christopher House & John Laitner & Dmitriy Stolyarov, 2008. "Valuing Lost Home Production Of Dual Earner Couples," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(2), pages 701-736, May.
    4. Boragan Aruoba & Morris Davis & Randall Wright, 2016. "Homework in Monetary Economics: Inflation, Home Production, and the Production of Homes," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 21, pages 105-124, July.
    5. Bridgman, Benjamin & Duernecker, Georg & Herrendorf, Berthold, 2018. "Structural transformation, marketization, and household production around the world," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 102-126.
    6. Seonglim Lee & Jinkook Lee & Yunhee Chang, 2014. "Is Dual Income Costly for Married Couples? An Analysis of Household Expenditures," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 161-177, June.
    7. Bart Hobijn & Charles Steindel, 2009. "Do alternative measures of GDP affect its interpretation?," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 15(Nov).
    8. Nicolas Frémeaux & Arnaud Lefranc, 2020. "Assortative Mating and Earnings Inequality in France," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(4), pages 757-783, December.
    9. Bridgman, Benjamin, 2016. "Home productivity," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 60-76.
    10. Georg Duernecker & Berthold Herrendorf, 2015. "On the Allocation of Time - A Quantitative Analysis of the U.S. and France," CESifo Working Paper Series 5475, CESifo.
    11. Christopher House & John Laitner & Dmitriy Stolyarov, 2008. "Valuing Lost Home Production Of Dual Earner Couples," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(2), pages 701-736, May.
    12. Laitner, John & Silverman, Dan, 2012. "Consumption, retirement and social security: Evaluating the efficiency of reform that encourages longer careers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(7-8), pages 615-634.
    13. Christopher House & John Laitner & Dmitriy Stolyarov, 2006. "Home Production by Dual Earner Couples and Consumption During Retirement," Working Papers wp143, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    14. Marcus Scheiblecker & Julia Bock-Schappelwein & Franz Sinabell, 2011. "Ausgewählte Ergebnisse einer erweiterten Wohlstandsmessung im Ländervergleich," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 84(11), pages 713-726, November.

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