ABSTRACT
The debate over the welfare state could be advanced by explicitly considering implications of the non-monetary aspects of work. By applying a behavioral model in which money, income, and social amenities are all included, it is possible to take the social as well as monetary value of jobs into account. Becker's theory of social interactions is just such a model. It is used to derive predictions about various responses to job loss under two different sets of institutional and social conditions: first, in which the monetary value of a job is high and the social value low, a situation characterizing the 1930's, and second in which the monetary value is low and the social value high, a situation characterizing the 1980's. The chapter also deals with the non-monetary aspects of work. Budget line analysis shows that the replacement ratio with full-time work is but one of several factors which determine the degree of voluntary unemployment.
