The Diseconomies of Do-it-Yourself
Publication Date
3-17-2016
Abstract
I argue that, due to mistrust of markets, households engage in excessive household production and too little market exchange, primarily due to anti-market bias. “Do-It-Yourself,” commonly engaged in for the purposes of prudence, contradicts the concept of comparative advantage under the conditions of perfect markets. Imperfections in real-life markets are insufficient as an explanation for the ubiquity of household production that could plausibly be purchased in markets. The optimality conditions set forth by Becker (1965) are unlikely to hold.
Document Type
Article
Keywords
Do-It-Yourself, Behavioral Economics, Social Economics, Rational Irrationality
DOI
10.2139/ssrn.2748188
Source
SMU Cox: Other (Topic)
Language
English
