Household production – Define household production

1 First part1. Household production.(a) Define household production and housework and explain the di?er- ence between them.(b) In each of the cases listed below, state if the activity constitutes household production, housework, both or none. Explain your an- swers.i. The husband building bookshelvesii. The husband cooking hamburgers in the grill iii. The wive feeding the babyiv. The wive fencing the housev. The wive working as a nurse at City Hospital(c) Suppose you included the value of unpaid work in GDP. Do you think that this would result in higher or lower estimates of economic growth in the period 1975 to 1995? Explain your reasoning.2. Reproduction.(a) Define the fertility rate and the natality (birth) rate and explain the di?erence between them.(b) According to K. Bryant, an issue must satisfy three conditions to be considered an economic one (so economists have something relevant to say about the issue). State these three conditions and explain how the fertility decision satisfies these three conditions.(c) The relation between fertility rate and income across countries is negative. Explain briefly two reasons for this phenomenon.3. Intrahousehold distribution of resources. Before the 1950s, in the rare case in which a divorce was granted, the husband was supposed to pay alimony (spousal support) to his wife. Since then, divorce is granted more often but alimony is not automatically granted and, when granted, it is only granted for a limited period of time and usually for smaller amounts in real terms than used to be the case.(a) Use the bargaining graph to illustrate the e?ects of this decrease in alimony in the bargaining power of the average husband and wife.Explain its e?ects on the intrahousehold distribution of resources. (b) What is the impact of this decrease in alimony on the probability ofdivorce? Explain.4. International comparisons (high income countries).(a) Define income per capita, output per worker and the dependency ratio and explain the relation between them.(b) Use your answer to part a) to explain why governments are inter- ested in increasing both the fertility rate and the female labour force participation ratio.(c) Explain paternity leave. Now use your answer to part b) to provide a rational for the European Union implementing a two-week paternity leave in 2010.5. International comparisons (developing countries). (a) What is the replacement fertility rate? Explain.Many of the low-income countries are young countries with high fer- tility ratios.(b) What constitutes a low-income country according to the World Bank classification?(c) What are the two components of the dependency ratio?(d) Use you answer in part c) to explain the short- and long-term ef- fects of a decline in the fertility rate of a low-income country on its dependency ratio.2 Second part1. Labour force participation ratio.(a) Define female labour force participation ratio.(b) Suppose that you want to compare participation of women in paid work across di?erent countries. Should you use the raw female labour force participation ratio? Why or why not? What is the appropriate measure?2. Occupational segregation.(a) Define occupational segregation.(b) Explain the index (known as the Duncan index) that economists use to measure occupational segregation.(c) Is gender occupational segregation, as far as we can tell, higher in developing or in developed countries?(d) Explain two possible reasons for this di?erence.3. Discrimination. Let ?? denote wages actually paid to women, ?? wages actually paid to men, and ? the discrimination coe?cient. Assume the type of (employer) discrimination analyzed by Becker where firms actas is they pay ?? (1 + ?) when they hire women and ?? when they hire men.(a) Define discrimination in the labour market.(b) In the case where the value of the marginal products of male and female labour are the same, solve for the ratio of female to male wages when the discrimination coe?cient is 0.20.(c) What is the wage gap, due to discrimination, in this case?(d) Explain Becker’s theory. What is meant by a discrimination coe?- cient that is 0.20?4. Anti-discrimination laws(a) Define equal employment opportunity, a?rmative action and comparable worth and explain the di?erence between them.(b) How e?ective has each of these policies been in reducing the gender gap?5. Labour market issues. The terms economic restructuring or structural adjustment refer to the fact that, as the economy evolves, some industries (sectors) disappear while new industries are born. Why might economic restructuring (structural adjustment) have di?erent e?ects on men andwomen?