Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP11168 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details

Title: Families in Macroeconomics

Author(s): Matthias Doepke and Mich�le Tertilt

Publication Date: March 2016

Keyword(s): Business Cycles, Family Economics, Fertility, Gender, growth, Households, Human Capital, Labor Supply and Macroeconomics

Programme Area(s): Development Economics, Macroeconomics and Growth and Monetary Economics and Fluctuations

Abstract: Much of macroeconomics is concerned with the allocation of physical capital, human capital, and labor over time and across people. The decisions on savings, education, and labor supply that generate these variables are made within families. Yet the family (and decision-making in families) is typically ignored in macroeconomic models. In this chapter, we argue that family economics should be an integral part of macroeconomics, and that accounting for the family leads to new answers to classic macro questions. Our discussion is organized around three themes. We start by focusing on short and medium run fluctuations, and argue that changes in family structure in recent decades have important repercussions for the determination of aggregate labor supply and savings. Next, we turn to economic growth, and describe how accounting for families is central for understanding differences between rich and poor countries and for the determinants of long-run development. We conclude with an analysis of the role of the family as a driver of political and institutional change.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=11168

Bibliographic Reference

Doepke, M and Tertilt, M. 2016. 'Families in Macroeconomics'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=11168