ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the core ideas of the household production function approach and its major testable implication, the time substitution hypothesis. The basis of the ‘household production function approach’ or ‘household production theory’ is the labor-leisure choice analysis. The household production function approach by Gary Becker and Robert Michael is the standard economic framework for analyzing housework. The behavioral findings are then applied to derive implications for technical change and consumption behavior. The household production function approach has been developed with the aim of eliminating tastes from consumption analysis by introducing differences in household production processes and productive efficiency as explanatory elements. The chapter shows how the learning account adds a novel perspective to the subject for each of the more specific questions tackled, i.e. in addition to the valuable insights to be derived from more established frameworks.
