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Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access originally published online on May 30, 2007
Cambridge Journal of Economics 2007 31(4):581-599; doi:10.1093/cje/bem011
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Right arrow I38 - Government Policy; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
Right arrow J13 - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
Right arrow J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
Right arrow J24 - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
Right arrow J31 - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

The prospects for caring: economic theory and policy analysis

Susan Himmelweit*

* Open University, Milton Keynes

Address for correspondence: Faculty of Social Sciences, Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK; email: s.f.himmelweit{at}open.ac.uk

This paper examines three distinguishing features of caring: that it involves the development of a relationship, that caring responsibilities and needs are unequally distributed and that social norms influence the allocation of care and caring responsibilities, to draw out their implications for analysing caring and its movement between unpaid and paid economies. Rising opportunity costs of caring are found to produce pressures experienced in different ways across different sectors of the economy. These, coupled with inequalities in care responsibilities and labour market opportunities, influence the movement of care between paid and unpaid economies. This analysis is then used to examine the likely evolution of caring norms and practices and how policy might intervene to avoid an uncaring future.

Key Words: Care • Paid and unpaid labour • Productivity • Inequality • Social norms

JEL classifications: I38, J22, J31, Z13

Manuscript received November 24, 2006.


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