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Unpaid Work in Macroeconomics: A Stocktaking Exercise

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Book cover Gender and Time Use in a Global Context

Abstract

This chapter takes stock of what has been done so far in integrating unpaid work as an analytical category into macroeconomic analysis. This literature review is structured under three main topics: reconceptualization of macroeconomic phenomena to encompass unpaid work; impact of macroeconomic policies through gendered allocation of unpaid work; exploration of the impact of unpaid work on macroeconomic outcomes through macroeconomic modeling, policy simulations and in the context of long-run sustainable growth. The review shows that gendered distribution of unpaid work acts in two-way interaction with macroeconomic phenomena. Production of goods and services through unpaid caring labor act as an important determinant of macroeconomic indicators, while ignorance of unpaid work in macroeconomic analysis leads to deficiencies in policy design and implementation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The collection of papers in Bakker (1994) and Çağatay et al. (1995) and Grown et al. (2000) are seminal pieces.

  2. 2.

    The first satellite account studies started in the 1970’s by the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies in France to measure characteristics of sectors such as education, health, tourism, environment, or to change the structure of accounts by expanding the production boundary such as measuring household production and other social areas (Landefeld and McCulla 2000). Satellite Accounts were first conceptualized, however, by the System of National Accounts (SNA) in 1993, with the support of accumulated background of research on non-market areas and also as a result of the criticisms of women’s and environmental movements (Latigo and Neijwa 2005).

  3. 3.

    Time use surveys collect information on two questions: what types of activities do the individuals in the 15+ adult population engage in; what they do with their time and how much time is spent doing each of these activities. Typically time use surveys require that each surveyed (adult) individual fill a 24-hour diary to show all their activities. Based on these diaries, different activities are categorized and the average and total allocation of time is calculated.

  4. 4.

    İlkkaracan (2012) uses the parallel systems approach to explain low aggregate levels of female employment as a result of capitalist growth accommodating patriarchy as conditioned by a historical conjecture of a relatively unsuccessful attempt at export-led growth process as a later comer to global markets and demographic dynamics.

  5. 5.

    Braunstein, van Staveren, and Tavani (2011) defines “caring spirits” as “the tendency whether determined by social norms or individual motivation to provide care for one’s self and others in ways that add to current aggregate demand and future economic productivity” (p.12).

  6. 6.

    Braunstein, van Staveren, and Tavani (2011) explain that these efficiency gains are partly the result of efficiency wage type of dynamics in the paid care sector by increasing labor productivity and quality of care services. For example, the health sector provides more efficient services such that the productivity loss because of sick workers in the labor market is lower (p.27).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Management, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

    İpek İlkkaracan

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  1. İpek İlkkaracan
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Correspondence to İpek İlkkaracan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bowdoin College Dept of Economics, Brunswick, Maine, USA

    Rachel Connelly

  2. Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA

    Ebru Kongar

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İlkkaracan, İ. (2017). Unpaid Work in Macroeconomics: A Stocktaking Exercise. In: Connelly, R., Kongar, E. (eds) Gender and Time Use in a Global Context. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56837-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56837-3_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-56836-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56837-3

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