This is a survey of theoretical work (and some empirical work) related to the economics of the family. It was written for the forthcoming Handbook in Population Theory and was substantially revised in June 1994.

This paper is an advertisement for some facts and ideas that I think likely to lead to a richer theory of the economics of the family. The discussion references many papers from anthropology and biology. Because of the intimate connection between the family and reproduction, it should not be...