Editing Feminist economics (section)

===Household bargaining===
Central to feminist economics is a different approach to the "family" and "household." In classical economics, those units are typically described as amicable and [[homogeneous]]. [[Gary Becker]] and new home economists introduced the study of "the family" to traditional economics, which usually assumes the family is a single, altruistic unit among which money is distributed equally. Others have concluded that an optimal distribution of commodities and provisions takes place within the family as a result of which they view families in the same manner as individuals.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Samuelson|first1=Paul A.|title=Social Indifference Curves|journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics|date=February 1956|volume=70|issue=1|pages=9–10|url=http://gatton.uky.edu/faculty/hoytw/751/articles/samuelsonsic.pdf|access-date=15 April 2015|doi=10.2307/1884510|jstor=1884510|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140909194253/http://gatton.uky.edu/faculty/hoytw/751/articles/samuelsonsic.pdf|archive-date=9 September 2014}}</ref> These models, according to feminist economists, "endorsed traditional expectations about the sexes," and applied individualistic rational-choice models to explain home behavior.<ref name="nelson1" /> Feminist economists modify these assumptions to account for exploitative sexual and gender relations, [[single-parent families]], [[same-sex relationships]], familial relations with children, and the consequences of reproduction. Specifically, feminist economists move beyond unitary household models and [[game theory]] to show the diversity of household experiences.

For example, [[Bina Agarwal]] and others have critiqued the mainstream model and helped provide a better understanding of intra-household bargaining power.<ref name="agarwal">{{cite journal|last=Agarwal|first=Bina|author-link=Bina Agarwal|title=Bargaining and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household|journal=Feminist Economics|date=Spring 1997|volume=3|issue=1|pages=1–51|url=http://www.binaagarwal.com/downloads/apapers/bagaining_and_gender_relations.pdf|doi=10.1080/135457097338799|citeseerx=10.1.1.472.6354}}</ref> Agarwal shows that a lack of power and outside options for women hinders their ability to negotiate within their families. [[Amartya Sen]] shows how social norms that devalue women's unpaid work in the household often disadvantage women in [[intra-household bargaining]]. These feminist economists argue that such claims have important economic outcomes which must be recognized within economic frameworks.