Evolving households : the imprint of technology on life / Jeremy Greenwood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Greenwood, Jeremy, 1953- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Technological innovations--Economic aspects--United States--History.

Technological innovations.

Families--United States--History.

Families.

Technological innovations--Economic aspects.

History.

United States.

United States--Social conditions.

Social conditions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 315 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press, [2018]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

The transformative effect of technological change on households and culture, seen from a macroeconomic perspective through simple economic models.In Evolving Households, Jeremy Greenwood argues that technological progress has had as significant an effect on households as it had on industry. Taking a macroeconomic perspective, Greenwood develops simple economic models to study such phenomena as the rise in married female labor force participation, changes in fertility rates, the decline in marriage, and increased longevity. These trends represent a dramatic transformation in everyday life, and they were made possible by advancements in technology. Greenwood also addresses how technological progress can cause social change.Greenwood shows, for example, how electricity and labor-saving appliances freed women from full-time household drudgery and enabled them to enter the labor market. He explains that fertility dropped when higher wages increased the opportunity cost of having children; he attributes the post-World War II baby boom to a combination of labor-saving household technology and advances in obstetrics and pediatrics. Marriage rates declined when single households became more economically feasible; people could be more discriminating in their choice of a mate. Technological progress also affects social and cultural norms. Innovation in contraception ushered in a sexual revolution. Labor-saving technological progress at home, together with mechanization in industry that led to an increase in the value of brain relative to brawn for jobs, fostered the advancement of women's rights in the workplace. Finally, Greenwood attributes increased longevity to advances in medical technology and rising living standards, and he examines healthcare spending, the development of new drugs, and the growing portion of life now spent in retirement.

Contents:

1 More Working Mothers p. 1

1 Measuring the Allocation of Time p. 2

2 The Unisex Single Model of Labor Supply p. 5

3 Married Female Labor Supply p. 25

4 Calibrating Labor Supply Models p. 35

5 Household Production Theory p. 37

6 The Rise in Married Female Labor Supply p. 45

7 The Gender Wage Gap p. 62

8 Brain and Brawn p. 65

9 The Division of Labor in the Household p. 69

2 The Baby Boom and Baby Bust p. 79

1 Definitions of Fertility p. 80

2 Fertility 1800-1990 p. 83

3 The Mystery of the Baby Boom p. 86

4 A Basic Model of Fertility p. 89

5 The Size and Start of the Baby Boom in OECD Countries p. 100

6 Advances in Obstetric and Pediatric Medicine p. 103

7 Fertility and Wars: The Case of World War I in France p. 108

8 The Choice between Jobs and Kids p. 112

9 Malthus p. 117

3 The Decline in Marriage p. 129

1 Love or Money p. 130

2 Definitions for Marriage and Divorce Rates p. 131

3 Trends in Marriage and Divorce p. 132

4 A Basic Model of Marriage p. 140

5 Divorce p. 151

6 Assortative Mating p. 156

7 Growing Up with a Single Mother p. 162

8 The Beckerian Theory of Marriage p. 170

4 Social Change p. 181

1 Women's Rights in the Workplace p. 184

2 Mothers and Sons p. 191

3 The Sexual Revolution, 1900-2000 p. 195

4 Measures of Nonmarital Births p. 196

5 Technological Progress in Contraception p. 198

6 A Model of Premarital Sex p. 204

7 The Socialization of Children p. 208

8 The Frequency of Sex, a Digression p. 220

9 The Spirit of Capitalism p. 223

5 Increased Longevity and Longer Retirement p. 235

1 Better Health p. 236

2 The Development of New Drugs p. 243

3 Health Insurance p. 247

4 AIDS p. 251

5 The Trend in Retirement p. 255

6 Old-Age Social Security p. 263.

Notes:

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

9780262350853

0262350858

OCLC:

1081304535

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.