Valuation of housework productivity in colombia: an approximation from shadow prices

Abstract

<p>The purpose of this article is to valuate the housework productivity in Colombia using a shadow price based methodology, within the New Economics of the Family framework developed by Becker (1981,1985) and following Heckman’s approach (1974,1979). By using the stochastic frontier technique it may be concluded that 11.9 hours per day maximize the reserve wage earned by a woman living in the province’s main town; whereas rural women’s maximum reserve wage corresponds to 12.3 hours per day, which implies a higher degree of competitiveness in urban areas. On the other hand, poorer living standards offered by big cities in terms of the upbringing of children, compared to the rural areas, make a good enough incentive structure that raises the urban opportunity cost of participating in the labour market, along with the reserve wage.</p>