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Mothers' Milk And Measures Of Economic Output

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  • Julie Smith
  • Lindy Ingham

Abstract

Thoughtful economists have long been aware of the limitations of national accounting and GDP in measuring economic activity and material well-being. Feminist economists criticize the failure to count women's unpaid and reproductive work in measures of economic production. This paper examines the treatment of human milk production in national accounting guidelines. Human milk is an important resource produced by women. Significant maternal and child health costs result from children's premature weaning onto formula or solid food. While human milk production meets the standard national accounting criteria for inclusion in GDP, current practice is to ignore its significant economic value and the substantial private and public health costs of commercial breastmilk substitutes. Economic output measures such as GDP thus are incomplete and biased estimates of national food production and overall economic output, and they distort policy priorities to the disadvantage of women and children.

Suggested Citation

  • Julie Smith & Lindy Ingham, 2005. "Mothers' Milk And Measures Of Economic Output," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 41-62.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:11:y:2005:i:1:p:41-62
    DOI: 10.1080/1354570042000332605
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Paul Dalziel, 2019. "Wellbeing economics in public policy: A distinctive Australasian contribution?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 30(4), pages 478-497, December.
    2. Nancy Folbre, 2008. "Reforming Care," Politics & Society, , vol. 36(3), pages 373-387, September.
    3. Diwakar, Vidya & Malcolm, Michael & Naufal, George S, 2017. "Violent Conflict and Breastfeeding: The Case of Iraq," IZA Discussion Papers 10937, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Guang-zhen Wang, 2014. "The Impact of Social and Economic Indicators on Maternal and Child Health," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 935-957, May.
    5. David Brennan, 2006. "Defending The Indefensible? Culture'S Role In The Productive/Unproductive Dichotomy," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 403-425.
    6. Robyn Lee, 2018. "Breastfeeding Bodies: Intimacies at Work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 77-90, January.

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