ABSTRACT
Holding hands at midnight is nice work because it is caring work. But it seldom pays well, depending on whose hands one is holding.This poses something of a paradox for economists. If caring is its own reward, it need not command an economic return. But if caring labor receives no economic return at all, will it persist? If the economic costs of caring go up, will the supply of it decline? These are questions that economists have historically been reluctant to address. They are, however, quite relevant to three public policy issues with which feminist economists, in particular, are concerned: pay equity, the valuation of nonmarket work, and greater public support for parents.
