Showing papers by "Gary S. Becker published in 1992"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the degree of specialization is more often determined by other considerations, such as coordination costs of specialized workers who perform complementary tasks, and the amount of general knowledge available.
Abstract: This paper considers specialization and the division of labor. A more extensive division of labor raises productivity because returns to the time spent on tasks are usually greater to workers who concentrate on a narrower range of skills. The traditional discussion of the division of labor emphasizes the limitations to specialization imposed by the extent of the market. We claim that the degree of specialization is more often determined by other considerations. Especially emphasized are various costs of "coordinating" specialized workers who perform complementary tasks, and the amount of general knowledge available.
893 citations
TL;DR: The link between the past and present choice may also explain why and how parents influence the formation of children's preferences, and the formation and support of institutions and culture as discussed by the authors, which has profound implications for the analysis of economic and social phenomena, including short and long run changes in the amount of smoking due to higher taxes on a pack of cigarettes.
Abstract: The past casts a long shadow on the present through its influence on the formation of present preferences. The past influences present preferences through habitual, addictive, and traditional behavior, and in other ways. These have profound implications for the analysis of economic and social phenomena, including short and long run changes in the amount of smoking due to higher taxes on a pack of cigarettes, and the effects of taxes on effort and work habits in the long run. The link between the past and present choice may also explain why and how parents influence the formation of children's preferences, and the formation and support of institutions and culture. Copyright 1992 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG
316 citations
TL;DR: The demand for children to parental incomes and the cost of rearing children is linked — especially to the value of the time spent on child care and to public policies that change thecost of children.
Abstract: Fertility and the economy is examined in the context of the Malthusian question about the links between family choices and longterm economic growth. Micro level differences are not included not are a comprehensive range of economic or determinant variables. Specific attention is paid to income and price effects the quality of children overlapping generations mortality effects uncertainty and economic growth. Fertility and the demand for children in linked to parental incomes and the cost of rearing children which is affected by public policies that change the costs. Demand is also related to child and adult mortality and uncertainty about sex of the child. Fertility in one generation affects fertility in the next. Malthusian and neoclassical models do not capture the current model of modern economies with rising income/capita and human and physical capital extensive involvement of married women in the labor force and declining fertility to very low levels. In spite of the present advances in firm knowledge about the relationships between fertility and economic and social variables there is still much greater ignorance of the interactions. The Malthusian utility function that says fertility rises and falls with income did hold up to 2 centuries of scrutiny and the Malthusian inclusion of the shifting tastes in his analysis could be translated in the modern context to include price of children. The inclusion of net cost has significant consequences i.e. rural fertility can be higher because the cost of rearing when children contribute work to maintaining the farm is lower than in the city. An income tax deduction for children in the US reduces cost. Economic growth raises the cost of children due the time spent on child care becoming more valuable. The modern context has changed from Malthusian time and the cost of education training and medical care is relevant. The implication is that a rise in income could reduce the demand for children when education and training of children increases. Quality is substituted for quantity. The neoclassical model that "the capital-labor ratio and the degree of capital deepening" is affected by population growth is examined as well as the modern approach and the implications are expressed i.e. intergenerational transfers and parental altruism.
155 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: The economic approach as discussed by the authors uses economic approach to analyze social issues that range beyond those usually considered by economists, and illustrate it with examples drawn from past and current work, and describe the approach.
Abstract: The economic approach My research uses economic approach to analyze social issues that range beyond those usually considered by economists. This lecture will describe the approach, and illustrate it with examples drawn from past and current work.
26 citations
Journal Article•
21 citations
TL;DR: Stigler was the only child of immigrant parents who came from farm backgrounds his father from Germany and his mother from Hungary as discussed by the authors, who only spoke German and retained fluency in that language throughout his life.
Abstract: George Stigler was born in a small town near Seattle and grew up in that city. He was the only child of immigrant parents who came from farm backgrounds his father from Germany and his mother from Hungary. Until he was three, George only spoke German and retained fluency in that language throughout his life. He always spoke fondly of his youth in the Northwest. He attended Seattle public schools, and read insatiably on his own. He spent his summers and other free time playing tennis, climbing local mountains and camping through active involvement in the Boy Scouts, and engaging in assorted minor mischief. He attended the University of Washington in Seattle, where he majored in business administration. He intended to go into business, but the Great Depression was in full swing when he graduated in 1931. Lacking any employment opportunities, he decided to get an MBA at Nothwestern. It was there that he became interested in economics and the possibility of pursuing an academic career. A major turning point in his professional and personal life came with his decision to enroll for a Ph.D degree at the University of Chicago. Chicago had an outstanding department of economics that was led by Frank Knight and Jacob Viner. Knight had an immense influence, and Stigler wrote his dissertation under him on the history of marginal productivity theories in the analysis of output decisions. But Viner may had the greater long run impact on his thinking through Viner's emphasis on the empirical relevance of microeconomic theory, and on the importance of testing the theory with historical and other materials. As important as was the faculty's influence, that of a remarkable collection of students was even greater. He became close friend with fellow students Milton Friedman and Allen Wallis, friendships that remained close throughout Stigler's life. He also got to know and appreciate Paul Samuelson, who was then an undergraduate at Chicago. He began his friendship with Aaron Director, which eventually blossomed into a very close one. He met a graduate
1 citations