Jan 8, 2015
Shoshana Grossbard is Professor of Economics at San Diego State University and founding editor of the Review of Economics of the Household.
Shoshana obtained her Phd from the University of Chicago where she developed an interest in the New Home Economics from its founders, the late Nobel Laureate Gary Becker and the late Jacob Mincer. The main focus of Shoshana’s research is household economics, family economics and the economics of marriage.
Shoshana has published 5 books and more than 50 articles on the determinants of marriage, consumption and labor supply and on the law and economics of household decisions. She is fluent in English, French, Hebrew, Spanish, and Dutch and has presented her work at many universities in more than 13 countries.
Economic Themes:
In this interview, Shoshana mentions and discusses: household economics, family economics, economics of the household, household decision-making, sex-ratios, the economic and social impact of polygamy, determinants of marriage, opportunity cost, consumption and labor supply, immigration, population, marriage, price discrimination, government intervention and elasticity.
Find out:
- about Shoshana being a 1970s hippie and her demonstrations against King Constantine of Greece.
- about the differences in female educational participation between the 1960s and present day.
- about the sexist advertisements that existed which placed the wife in the household.
- about the origins of the New Home Economics.
- how Shoshana transitioned herself from an interest in the economics of education to the economics of polygamy while a student of Gary Becker.
- if there is an opportunity cost to marriage.
- the implication on labor force participation as a result of marriage.
- about the importance of the sex-ratio in determining labor force participation.
- how women's participation in the labor force can be a direct result of fluctuations in the sex-ratio.
- if Hilary Clinton's year of birth allowed her to be the successful and educated person she is today due to the low sex ratio in the US between 1946 and 1950.
- about the marriage-squeeze hypothesis (in which there is a shortage of men or women for marriage).
- how polygamy can be harmful for young men and why they are known as the lost boys.
- about the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints in British Columbia.
- who pays more for dry-cleaning services - males or females - based on their elasticity of demand.
- if we should trust our spouse given the ideology behind economics that all market participants are self-interested and seek to gain wealth without any consideration of others.
- if spousal love diminishes once you have children and that the love you have toward your child compensates for the lack of love from your spouse.
- and much more.
To get the shownotes to this episode and all the books and links mentioned by Shoshana, please visit www.economicrockstar.com