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This chapter discusses the basic determinants of the generation of wealth and its distribution across households; it has four sections. Section 7.1 considers the life cycle motive as a basis of household saving behaviour, paying particular attention to the role played by the pension annuity system. Section 7.2 discusses the role of education in transmitting wealth between parents and children. Section 7.3 turns to the topic of macroeconomics and looks at how the rate of return is determined in the long term, thereby showing how the theoretical discussions in this book form a general equilibrium framework. Section 7.4 takes up the question of asset and related expectations––asset price fluctuation is considered one of the major causes of generation of huge wealth in the short term, but there are various conflicting dimensions to this problem.

The basic model of household structure and behaviour in the field of economic development is that of a household that is jointly engaged in production and consumption—an ‘agricultural household model’. With complete markets, household production is separable from consumption. This separation property breaks down when there are multiple incomplete markets. A related issue is that of the strong assumptions required for the validity of the unitary household representation. Relaxing these assumptions leads us to models that apply bargaining theory to intrahouse allocation, and to the ‘efficient household’ model.

Systematic information on household financial asset holdings in developing countries is very sparse; the chapter reviews some available data and current policy debates. Although financial asset holdings by households are highly concentrated, deeper financial systems are correlated with improved income distribution. For low‐income countries, the relevant question for poor households is not how much financial assets they have, but whether they have any access to financial products at all. Building on and synthesizing disparate data‐collection efforts by others, the chapter produces new estimates of access percentages for over 150 countries. Across countries, access is negatively correlated with poverty rates, but the correlation is not a robust one; thus the supposed anti‐poverty potential of financial access remains econometrically elusive. Despite policy focus on the value of credit instruments, it is deposit products that tend to be the first to be used as prosperity increases, before more sophisticated savings products and borrowing.

This chapter analyzes household behavior in response to land reform policies. It addresses how efficacious was land reform in engendering private landownership by examining the following: (1) types of land holdings rural households have; (2) behavioral responses according to age, education, income level, and social classification that may affect the enlargement of holdings by households; and (3) patterns of land rental.

Lists some of the issues explored through micro models in subsequent chapters of the book. Also discusses the general economic methodology followed throughout the book. In particular, the assumption of maximization in household behaviour and its place in the micro analysis of farm households is examined. While there is substantial evidence of peasant rationality, there is no denying the fact that individual decision‐making is influenced by social norms and the evidence that it is prone to errors and biases. The assumption of rationality is best seen as a not untenable working hypothesis or benchmark.

This chapter considers two related puzzles that are directly related to family formation (and dissolution) and to intrafamily allocation: the first deals with the increase in inequality in the United States in recent decades, and the second has to do with some remarkable trends in gender-specific demand for higher education. In addition, it also describes the main features of matching models, including a frictionless environment and notion of transfers, with particular emphasis on nontransferable utility, transferable utility, and imperfectly transferable utility. Finally, it discusses existing models of household behavior, such as the unitary model, the collective model, and noncooperative models, as well as bargaining models of the household. An overview of the book's content is also presented.

This concluding chapter draws together this study’s findings regarding the role of the interwar suburban semi as a catalyst for social change, the importance of commercial marketing in this process, and the relationship between the social consequences of this first phase of British mass suburbanization and longer-term changes in household behaviour, lifestyles, and priorities. Interwar suburban housing is also compared with post-1945 patterns of housing provision to show why, despite its flaws, this era constituted the high watermark of British housing construction, from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. A long, disastrous, experiment in mass high-rise housing during the 1950s and 1960s was followed by an era of subdued housing development, sharply rising prices, and high building densities compared to the interwar years. Thus, despite improvements in building technology, the interwar semi retains its status as many people’s ‘ideal home’.

This chapter examines the sociological research on the social, economic, cultural, political, and environmental factors that influence public opinion on climate change. This review finds that climate change public opinion is dynamic and differentiated. In general, climate change awareness around the world is growing, but cross-national studies demonstrate that levels of awareness, knowledge, and concern vary greatly across and within developing and industrialized nations. Studies in the United States find that typical sociodemographics are not as influential as political ideology in influencing individuals’ views on climate change. The chapter ends by identifying four paths for future research that focus on how climate change public opinion influences household behavior change, political or collective action participation, policy outcomes, and corporate behaviors.

The focus of this commentary is on why people are not switching to safe wells despite the private benefits exceeding the costs. The reason is likely to be that the maximization problem formulated in the main chapter is mis-specified. One problem may be that the costs of switching are short term, the benefits long term. Another problem may be that the benefits are less tangible than the costs.