- http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomasphilipson/2014/05/13/an-economic-giant-departs-gary-becker-1930-2014/#
- http://home.uchicago.edu/gbecker/Nobel/nobel.html
A short summary of the first blog post, which was written by one of his students. Gary Becker was a very respected economist from Chicago and is fondly remembered as a great mentor. Also, some of his significant works were economics of racial discrimination, the quantitative analysis of the economics of education, family formation and separation, fertility, crime and punishment, addiction, as well as social influences on economic behavior. However, the blog post describes more about his life and personality rather than his works.
The second post however, describes a lot on his works. Gary Becker tries to view the family as a market structure, which produces basic goods such as meals, residence, entertainment, etc.
On the other hand, Gary Becker also came up with the theory of discrimination in the work force. When competition is strong, the employer is forced to employ the most productive laborers rather than those of their preferred ethnic groups to increase productivity. This can shift both the long run and short run supply to the right, as labor is increased. Also, as the productivity increases, firms can opt to hire less workers, thus requiring less cost. In this case, this theory is right,. However, when an employer discriminates a certain ethnic group, he/she might think badly about them and thus have bias.
Another theory that Gary Becker had,
(a quote from the blog) :
"his microeconomic work on the economics of the family concluded that a major cost of raising a child was the foregone earnings of women. As women entering the labor force thus reduced fertility, this work became central to the macroeconomic study of economic- and population growth."
Gary Becker proposes that the opportunity cost to not entering labor forces was due to fertility. As in the short run working would provide a greater "profit" compared to having to raise a child, plus not working while bearing the child, women choose to reduce the number of children they have and more and more women chose to enter the working force. Also, having children takes up time, energy and money, women who enter the workforce will choose to have less children, thus reducing fertility as a whole.
As a conclusion, I fully agree with Gary Becker's theories as they are very relevant to today's society. However, families should not be based upon a market struc
The second post however, describes a lot on his works. Gary Becker tries to view the family as a market structure, which produces basic goods such as meals, residence, entertainment, etc.
On the other hand, Gary Becker also came up with the theory of discrimination in the work force. When competition is strong, the employer is forced to employ the most productive laborers rather than those of their preferred ethnic groups to increase productivity. This can shift both the long run and short run supply to the right, as labor is increased. Also, as the productivity increases, firms can opt to hire less workers, thus requiring less cost. In this case, this theory is right,. However, when an employer discriminates a certain ethnic group, he/she might think badly about them and thus have bias.
Another theory that Gary Becker had,
(a quote from the blog) :
"his microeconomic work on the economics of the family concluded that a major cost of raising a child was the foregone earnings of women. As women entering the labor force thus reduced fertility, this work became central to the macroeconomic study of economic- and population growth."
Gary Becker proposes that the opportunity cost to not entering labor forces was due to fertility. As in the short run working would provide a greater "profit" compared to having to raise a child, plus not working while bearing the child, women choose to reduce the number of children they have and more and more women chose to enter the working force. Also, having children takes up time, energy and money, women who enter the workforce will choose to have less children, thus reducing fertility as a whole.
As a conclusion, I fully agree with Gary Becker's theories as they are very relevant to today's society. However, families should not be based upon a market struc