The Importance of the Family and the Family Structure for Economic Studies

Abstract

Statistical investigations are in most cases concerned with the individual, and demographic analysis frequently deals with statistical masses that are a mere summing up of individual cases. Using these methods to our problems, we easily forget that an isolated existence is rarely to be found in real life. A demography with a sociological bias has therefore endeavoured to analyse group-relations. Thus the household and family structure has become an important subject for research. The knowledge acquired in these respects may prove useful to the evaluation and analysis of economical facts. The following exposition is above all a contribution to the methodical problems though the subject matter as such may be of some interest.

Der vorstehende Beitrag wurde dem Internationalen Bevölkerrungkongreß New York 1961 vorgelegt.