Gender, human capabilities and culture within the household economy: Different paths to socio-economic well-being?

Morris Altman, Louise Lamontagne

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An important hypothesis put forth by Amartya Sen is that a given level of per capita real income in a population can generate quite different levels of socio-economic well-being depending on the economic infrastructure of that population and the distribution of income. Sen's hypothesis is refined in this paper to reflect the manner in which income is spent and labor is allocated and utilized within a household specific to particular groups within society and how this impacts upon both the level of well-being and economic efficiency. The evidence on living conditions and mortality presented here from early twentieth century New York City, underlies the potential significance of the household economy as a key determinant of economic well-being. Focusing simply on per capita income estimates, even corrected for the distribution of income, misses fundamentally important determinants of human capabilities and economic well-being with potentially important implications for public policy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)325-364
Number of pages40
JournalInternational Journal of Social Economics
Volume31
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2004

Keywords

  • Culture (sociology)
  • Gender
  • Social economics
  • United States of America

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Social Sciences(all)

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