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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

A Survey Of Theories Of The Family, Ted Bergstrom Jun 1995

A Survey Of Theories Of The Family, Ted Bergstrom

Ted C Bergstrom

This review explores the theory of household technology and the associated possibilities for distributing utility among household members. It also explores decision theory within the household, drawing on standard consumer decision theory. The review discusses models of equilbrium in which families are formed by persons voluntarily choosing mates. This theory is analogous to ``Tiebout theory'' in urban economics, where the objects of choice include not only the amount of public goods supplied in each city, but also which individuals live in each place. An aspect of family life that has fewer parallels in the economics of market economies is intrafamilial …


On The Evolution Of Altruistic Ethical Rules For Siblings, Ted Bergstrom Feb 1995

On The Evolution Of Altruistic Ethical Rules For Siblings, Ted Bergstrom

Ted C Bergstrom

This paper explores the evolutionary foundations of altruism among siblings and extends biologists' kin-selection theory to a richer class of games between relatives. It shows that a population will resist invasion by dominant mutant genes if individuals maximize a "semi-Kantian" utility function in games with their siblings. It is shown that a population that resists invasion by dominant mutants may be invaded by recessive mutants. Conditions are found under which a population resists invasion by dominant and also by recessive mutants. (JEL C70, D10, D63)