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HOW “CHICAGOAN” ARE GARY BECKER’S ECONOMIC MODELS OF MARRIAGE?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2010

SHOSHANA GROSSBARD
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Abstract

This paper describes Gary Becker’s theoretical models of marriage. At the micro level, these are all rational choice models. At the market level, Becker offers two major types of models: partial equilibrium models based on price theory as taught by Marshall and Friedman; and optimal sorting models based on optimal assignment models. This paper examines some of the possible intellectual influences on Becker’s theory of marriage, compares Becker’s research on marriage with that of some scholars interested in intra-marriage distribution, and documents that Becker’s students at Chicago were more interested in Becker’s Friedmanian models of marriage than in his optimal assignment models.

Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 377 - 395
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2010

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