TEA.3.4

Description

Economic men and women are supposed to seek to maximize their utility. But, not everyone maximizes utility in the same way. “There are those for whom income and wealth and their public manifestations or private contemplation are the ultimate goal and satisfaction; there are others for whom they are not” (Galbraith 1999, p. 28). One group finds fulfillment in making money and accumulating assets, while another may find it by providing household production and childcare for their family. Although they may not agree with each other’s choices, both sets of behavior may be termed rational. To put this in mathematical terms, many textbooks provide an indifference curve demonstrating the tradeoff between work (income) and leisure activity. Workers have two choices for maximizing utility, income or leisure. Income is obtained partly by working. Leisure involves all activity that is not market work. In this article the authors examine the explicit and implicit value of work and leisure, and the choices made to pursue either.