Family economics

seminaria licencjackie

In this seminar, students will learn what family economics is: its scope, connections to other areas of economics, and the research methods used in this field. Then, in consultation with the teacher, seminar participants will choose a topic and develop a research plan that will be the core of their future bachelor's thesis. The final outcome of the course is the submission of the bachelor's thesis for defense.

Family economics is a branch of economics that studies issues related to family-specific decision-making. Examples of such decisions include the formation and dissolution of marriage (divorce), the division of labor within the household (household chores, childcare, market work), and fertility (number of children, intervals between births, level and structure of expenses for raising children). These decisions are largely shaped by market mechanisms, socio-economic and institutional environment, and technology. As a result, the subject matter of family economics is very broad, encompassing areas such as education, health, labor market, contract theory, altruism, demographic processes, and risk management.

The first few seminar meetings will be dedicated to detailing the scope of topics that could be the subject of the future bachelor's thesis. Research methods that can be effectively applied to the analysis of the discussed issues will also be covered. Subsequently, through individual consultations with the instructor and group discussions, seminar participants will narrow down their research area and develop their research plan. Research conducted within this seminar can be theoretical (economic modeling), empirical (testing hypotheses using econometric methods), or mixed (theoretical-empirical). Empirical research can be conducted using publicly available data or data from the Faculty of Economic Sciences Repository, but can also be obtained through a survey created in consultation with the instructor (e.g., online survey).

Examples of research topics that can be explored in this seminar include: who marries whom and why, the implications of age differences between partners, the impact of online dating on the marriage market, factors that increase the risk of divorce, time allocation within the family, reproductive decisions, investments in human capital, assistance and care for elderly parents, the impact of social policy on fertility, and the well-being of family members.

Becker, G. (1978) The Economic Approach to Human Behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Browning, M., Chiappori, P.-A., Weiss, Y. (2014) Economics of the family. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rosenzweig, M. Stark, O. (1997) Handbook of population and family economics. North-Holland: Elsevier.

Upon completing the seminar, the student:

1. Can identify research areas of interest in family economics.

2. Knows the basic theories of partner selection, demand for children, and division of labor within the household.

3. Can define a research problem, develop a research question, formulate hypotheses, and design a research plan.

4. Can select an appropriate research method to test the hypotheses and conduct empirical research to verify the hypotheses.

5. Can conduct a critical analysis of a scientific text and support their argumentation with references to the literature.

6. Knows and applies the requirements for a written research paper.

KW01, KW02, KW03, KU01, KU02, KW03, KK01, KK02, KK03

In the winter semester: development of the research plan and its approval by the instructor

In the summer semester: submission of the bachelor's thesis