David C. Sharp

Family Work Trends and Practices:1971 to 1991

Families are allocating their time in an increasingly market-oriented fashion, with a decreasing proportion of labor hours being devoted to unpaid work. This article analyzes two aspects of the changing allocation of time. First, using longitudinal data from 1971 to 1991, the nature of the changes in how the families have changed their allocation of time between market and non-market alternatives is examined. Next, how family types have changed their allocations over the same period are examined. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics is used for this analysis.Results of this research indicate that the proportion of time spent on household labor among men has increased over individual mens life cycles and between cross-sectional cohorts. However, women continue to devote more hours to household labor than men. The number of hours women spend in the labor force are increasing, but the number of hours women spend in the labor force is still less than the number of hours men spend in the labor force. While the families in the longitudinal analysis have been able to maintain fairly stable work and income patterns, the cross-sectional data indicate that families need to devote an increasing number of hours to the labor market to maintain economic stability.

The Work of Families: The Provision of Market and Household labor and the Role of Public Policy

This paper examines the ability of the family to perform both its economic and institutional functions in todays economy. We argue that individual and family choice with respect to paid and unpaid labor is severely limited. This lack of alternatives in work is generated by three social forces that shape the economic landscape: (1) a tradition rooted in patriarchy; (2) the market system; and (3) the social policies of the state. We create a framework within which the work of families can be analyzed over the past two decades. The analysis is based on data from three waves of the PSID: 1972, 1983, and 1992. Three family types—dual-earner, male-earner, and female-earner family structures—are examined for the nature and intensity of the work effort, the change in labor commitment over time, changes in real income and hourly earnings, and the effect of the increasing encroachment of the market on the familys distribution of labor between the two spheres. Finally, the work of families is examined within the context of the social policies of government, including a review of the institutional difficulties of providing family friendly policies in the current social environment.

Simultaneous Equations in Antidumping Investigations

Petitions filed by domestic producers alleging that they have been materially injured by reason of dumped imports are abundant and on the rise in the United States. Typically, the goal of each petition is to have antidumping import duties imposed on the relevant imported products. There is a two-step investigative procedure required in antidumping cases. First, the Department of Commerce determines whether or not the imported product has been sold at prices that are “less than fair value” (LTFV). Second, for cases in which the Department of Commerce votes affirmative on the LTFV issue, the International Trade Commission (USITC) investigates whether or not the domestic industry has indeed been materially injured by reason of these imports. Usually, in the second stage, analyses are not only conducted by USITC staff economists, but also by expert economists retained, respectively, by Petitioners (i.e., domestic producers) and Respondents (i.e., foreign producers). As with many cases that go to trial within the usual judicial system, expert economists from each side often testify to their analyses and findings at USITC hearings. Petitioners’ experts typically refer to evidence showing that the domestic producers have suffered from decreasing volumes, market share and market prices, and that these problems are attributable to LTFV imports. Respondents’ experts typically argue that not only are the alleged declines in domestic production and prices overstated but also that, to the extent that domestic volumes and market prices indeed declined, this outcome is attributable primarily to some market factor(s) other than subject imports. Within the last year, expert analyses in USITC antidumping cases have become more formally econometric, with simultaneous equations estimates of supply and demand that incorporate various factors—in addition to import volumes or prices—that may influence the prices and/or shipments of the domestically produced product. When such models are correctly specified, one can determine the direction and degree of influence from each factor on the domestic product’s price (or volume). In short, this technique can determine what share of the blame for falling domestic market prices (or volumes) is actually attributable to imports, if any. A more detailed description of the process involved with antidumping cases is provided in Section II of this paper. Section III describes generally the

Too Many Hours - Too Little Pay: The Impact of Market and Household Hours on Women's Work Lives

Work has many components. For many women, the great divide is the number of hours spent in the paid labor force relative to the number of hours working in the household. As the number of hours women commit to the labor market expands, there is a potential for a nurturance gap [Stanfield and Stanfield 1997] as the family unit finds itself underserved. On the other hand, if women choose to emphasize household work, they do not accumulate useable human capital necessary to protect their long-term economic well-being. The result is that many women in families, participating fully in both home and market, work too many hours for too little pay. This paper adds to the research in the economics of household labor through an analysis of the current work effort required of women in different types of families. How many hours does it take to maintain the household? Just how many hours do women in households work each week? What are the actual hourly earnings for that labor? And what are the benefits associated with this work effort?