家庭論 A Treatise on the Family

家庭論 A Treatise on the Family



《家庭論 A Treatise on the Family》作者是 Gary S. Becker，1992年諾貝爾經濟學得獎者。


【維基百科】Gary S. Becker Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992. According to the Nobel Prize citation, his work can be categorized into four areas:

～ investments in human capital
～ behavior of the family (or household), including distribution of work and allocation of time in the family
～ crime and punishment
～ discrimination on the markets for labor and goods

Gary Stanley Becker (born December 2, 1930) is an American economist and a Nobel laureate. Born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Becker earned a B.A. at Princeton University in 1951 and a Ph.D. at The University of Chicago in 1955.

He taught at Columbia University from 1957 to 1968, and then returned to The University of Chicago, where he holds joint appointments with the departments of economics, sociology, and the Booth School of Business.

Becker won the John Bates Clark Medal in 1967, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992, and received the United States' Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007.

Becker was one of the first economists to branch into what were traditionally considered topics belonging to sociology, including racial discrimination, crime, family organization, and drug addiction (see Freakonomics and Rational addiction).

He is known for arguing that many different types of human behavior can be seen as rational and utility maximizing. His approach can include altruistic behavior by defining individuals' utility appropriately.

He is also among the foremost exponents of the study of human capital. Becker is also credited with the "rotten kid theorem". He is married to Guity Nashat, an historian of the Middle East whose research interests overlap his own.


留意到這位一九九二年諾貝爾經濟學得獎者，Gary Stanley Becker 貝克爾教授，是因為讀了，信報“林行止”化名”史威德“，所寫的”欣然忘食“專欄，被國內出版社，編輯成三本書：“一脈相承”、“經濟家學”、“經濟門楣”，一次過出版。


其中有一篇文章：《貝克爾擴闊經濟學視野》，談及 Becker 寫的一本書：《A Treatise on the Family 》，Becker 把經濟學套入家庭裡面，進行分析推論。 有幾項甚為有趣，林行止把書中所說，拙要地寫了出來。（藍色字是林行止～“史威德”的文字，黑色字是我的意見。）


由一夫多妻到一夫一妻
在市場經濟體系下，婚姻的結、離以至一夫一妻及一夫多妻等， 都是受市場規律支配的結果。貝克爾指出一夫多妻的情況已愈來愈少，今天大約祇有10%的世界人口，仍生活在一夫多妻制的社會。貝克爾認為，一夫多妻的式微并不是宗教薰陶和女權運動，致力爭取得成果，而是經濟收益變化使然。一夫多妻制中，婦女的人數超過男人的人數，婦女的收入相對減少，丈夫花在每個妻子和她孩子身上的時間和收入，會隨著妻子說亮的增加而下降，換句話說，妻子（妾侍）人數愈多，她們的邊際收入愈少。



婚姻市場
婚姻市場上，相稱婚配實際上是投入的收入和價格均衡問題。一些人選擇和“低質量”的人結婚，因為他 們感到“高質量”的人太昂貴。一個有效的婚姻市場常常有完全相匹配的選擇配偶的條件，即高質量的男性與低質量的女性結婚，高質量的男性與低質量的女性結婚，盡管有時候也會存在不相稱的配偶，但不會改變常規。我們中國人所說的“門當戶對”和“木門對木門、竹門對竹門”，原來包含了重大經濟道理。



兒女是”耐用品“還是”消費品“
在貝克爾眼下，小孩子提供父母（及其他家庭成員）的滿足感（即效用），與其他商品相同，經濟學家因此是小孩為“耐用消費品”； 將小孩子商品化，缺乏人“味”有損人類尊嚴，但在經濟學分析上，這種提法是可以接受的。



投資在孩子身上
現代夫婦傾向于少生孩子的其中一項重要因素，是父母為了在自己身上增加人力資本投資，或在孩子身上增加人力資本投資的選擇。

在經濟落後的地區，孩子通常要負責家務及借出賣勞動力獲得收入，在這種情況下。孩子所得（賺錢潛力）的增加，會刺激對孩子的需求。孩子，特別是男孩，在經濟落後地區，被視為“生產財”；在經濟發達地區，父母並沒有要孩子做家務或出賣勞力的經濟需求，因此孩子被視為“消費品”。“消費品”越多他們的邊際利益越少。基于愛惜孩子，希望他們獲得“最佳 ”待遇，中產家庭因此傾向少生孩子。



親屬間的利他主義
在市場交易中，利他主義（Altruism）不能生存，因為“克己”甚至低于成本的價格，出售勞務或商品，最後比導致破產。但對一個家庭來說，成員之間以至對親屬，比對陌生人具有更多的利他主義傾向，貝克爾的解釋是，利他主義有助于家庭，確保其成員，共富貴同患難和其他不測事件發生時，同舟共濟，利他主義家庭，其成員都因為從利他行動得來的結果，他們比利己主義家庭，有更多的保障。


在”維基百科“裡中都有一段敘述，Becker （貝克爾）對 Families 的看法：

【維基百科】Becker’s research on human social interactions has had many implications for the family such as for the marriage market, divorce, fertility, and social security.

Becker argued that such decisions are made in a marginal-cost and marginal-benefit framework. For example, he concluded that wealthier couples have higher cost to divorce and thus a lower divorce rate.

A major focus of Becker’s research was the impact of higher real wages in increasing the value of time and therefore the cost of home production such as childrearing. As women increase investment in human capital and enter the work force the opportunity cost of childcare rises.

Additionally, the increased rate of return to education raises the desire to provide children with formal and costly education. Coupled together, the impact is to lower fertility rates.

A more controversial issue was Becker’s conclusion that parents often act altruistically towards selfish children by highly investing in a child in an effort to indirectly save for old age.

Becker believed that the rate of return from investing in children was often greater than normal retirement savings. However, parents can not know for sure that the child will take care of them.
Since they cannot legally bind a child to care for them they often resort to manipulation through instilling a sense of “guilt, obligation, duty and filial love that indirectly, but still very effectively... commits children to helping them out.”

Becker even went so far as to say that social security can cause families to be less interdependent by removing the motivation of parents to use altruistic behaviors in motivating their children to care for them.


把夫妻、婚姻、兒女、和親情，這些家庭內的行為行動，全部都利用經濟學來解讀，是否流于涼薄呢？還是英語世界是沒有“涼薄”這個同義詞呢？


後記：
記得有位網友，在本人某篇網誌曾經作過回應，說完善的社會老人福利，削弱了父母與子女的緊密關係，但當時我認為這像是：『有雞先呢？還是有蛋先？』遁環不斷，因果不可了的爭論，就停止了思考！估不到今天又 partially 勘入同樣的牛角尖，還是死胡同呢？


伸延閱覽：
A Treatise on the Family Harvard.edu
A Treatise on the Family 谷歌搜尋
PDF Gary S. Becker, A Treatise on the Family buec.udel.edu
A Treatise on the Family Britannica Online
Gary S. Becker 維基百科
Gary S. Becker's view about Families 維基百科
貝克爾擴闊經濟學視野 谷歌搜尋