What Are Family Economics?

Family economics is a branch of modern economics that focuses on microcosms and takes the family as the research object. Family economics focuses on economic activities such as household consumption, production, and financial management. It is very helpful for analyzing social conditions and solving social problems. Family economics has its roots in The Economics by the ancient Greek thinker Xenophon. At the end of the 19th century, some colleges and universities in the United States opened a family economics major. In recent years, family economics has developed into an independent branch of microeconomics. China has a relatively short history of studying this subject, and has not yet formed a complete theoretical system. ^[1]

Family economics

Family economics is

One of the New Development Trends of Modern Microeconomics

Becker believes that family activities are not only a pure consumption activity, but also a production activity, which produces some kind of "satisfaction". Any production behavior can be seen as a combination of various inputs that need to be consumed in order to obtain an output. In order to obtain the greatest satisfaction, households both use a large amount of various consumer goods purchased from the market and the household production needs

use

This has important implications for China's family planning control population policy, because with the increase of family income, the family's

Becker sees marriage as a kind of

The marriage theory of family economics can also explain the possible reasons for the decrease in the marriage rate and the increase in the divorce rate in modern society. With the progress of society and the liberation of women, the discrimination against women in the work has been greatly reduced. More and more women have become engineers, lawyers and doctors. In many areas of the market, education and other

The family is both a consumption unit, a production unit, and an investment unit. It is a comprehensive

As a subject of comprehensive economic behavior, the family can make rational arrangements for family production, family consumption, and family decision-making based on the fluctuation of time value, with the ultimate goal of maximizing family happiness. But no economist (including Becker himself) would think that economics is the only or central element in explaining social phenomena. Contemporary microeconomics only provides new insights into the study of human behavior from certain aspects. Power, which complements the deficiencies of other social sciences, is ultimately only a method available to analyze problems, opening a special window for later economic researchers and opening up a new idea.