Household Production and Leisure

Abstract

In this chapter we focus on the relationship between the time that household members spend on household production, volunteer activities and leisure. In the early neo-classical models all non-labour time was addressed as leisure, but since Becker (1965) introduced his New Home Economics theory, more attention has been paid to the productive activities in the household. Until then, production as represented in economic models seemed to be the monopoly of both private and public sectors. The fact that activities performed within the household do not appear in public statistics does not mean that they are not productive. As far back as 1941, Kuznets indicated that GNP per capita is not a good indicator for a country’s welfare, since household productive activities and volunteer labour, although affecting welfare, are not included in the GNP. The fact that the products of household production are not traded and have no market price does not mean that they have no value.