ABSTRACT
THE ECONOMICS OF THE FAMILY The exchange of money and goods inside the family is quite different from outside it. When money comes in from outside it becomes, in different
degrees, the common property of all the members. The relations between family members and kin are different from those in the market economy outside; there are special bonds between them, and they last for life. It is unusual for family members to pay one another; when money is transferred, as with pocket money, this is not in return for work done, but for the needs of the recipient. Property and income are shared, on an informal basis and without bargaining. The family is often a production unit, where there is farming or a family business, and above all it is a consumption unit, where money is spent on food, shelter and all the other needs of the family.
