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====Valuation of time==== Feminist economists point out three main ways of determining the value of unpaid work: the [[opportunity cost]] method, [[replacement cost]] method, and input-output cost method. The opportunity cost method "uses the wage a person would earn in the market" to see how much value their labor-time has.<ref name=Mullan /> This method extrapolates from the opportunity cost idea in mainstream economics. The second method of valuation uses replacement costs. In simple terms, this is done by measuring the amount of money a third-party would make for doing the same work if it was part of the market. In other words, the value of a person cleaning the house in an hour is the same as the hourly wage for a maid. Within this method there are two approaches: the first is a generalist replacement cost method, which examines if "it would be possible, for example, to take the wage of a general domestic worker who could perform a variety of tasks including childcare".<ref name=Mullan /> The second approach is the specialist replacement cost method, which aims to "distinguish between the different household tasks and choose replacements accordingly".<ref name=Mullan /> The third method is the input-output cost method. This looks at both the costs of inputs and includes any value added by the household. "For instance, the value of time devoted to cooking a meal can be determined by asking what it could cost to purchase a similar meal (the output) in the market, then subtracting the cost of the capital goods, utilities and raw materials devoted to that meal. This remainder represents the value of the other factors of production, primarily labor."<ref name=Folbre /> These types of models try to value household output by determining monetary values for the inputs — in the dinner example, the ingredients and production of the meal — and compares those with market equivalents.<ref name=Luxton /> =====Difficulty establishing monetary levels===== One criticism of time valuation concerns the choice of monetary levels. How should unpaid work be valued when more than one activity is being performed or more than one output is produced? Another issue concerns differences in quality between market and household products. Some feminist economists take issue with using the market system to determine values for a variety of reasons: it may lead to the conclusion that the market provides perfect substitutes for non-market work;<ref name=Folbre /> the wage produced in the market for services may not accurately reflect the actual opportunity cost of time spent in household production;<ref name=Mullan /> and the wages used in valuation methods come from industries where wages are already depressed because of gender inequalities, and so will not accurately value unpaid work.<ref name=Mullan /> A related argument is that the market "accepts existing sex/gender divisions of labor and pay inequalities as normal and unproblematic. With this basic assumption underlying their calculations, the valuations produced serve to reinforce gender inequalities rather than challenge women's subordination."<ref name=Luxton /> =====Criticisms of opportunity cost===== Criticisms are leveled against each method of valuation. The opportunity cost method "depends on the lost earnings of the worker so that a toilet cleaned by a lawyer has much greater value than one cleaned by a janitor", which means that the value varies too drastically.<ref name=Luxton /> There are also issues with the uniformity of this method not just across multiple individuals, but also for a single person: it "may not be uniform across the entire day or across days of the week."<ref name=Mullan /> There is also the issue of whether any enjoyment of the activity should be deducted from the opportunity cost estimate.<ref name=Mullan /> =====Difficulties with replacement cost===== The replacement cost method also has its critics. What types of jobs should be used as substitutes? For example, should childcare activities "be calculated using the wages of daycare workers or child psychiatrists?"<ref name=Mullan /> This relates to the problem of depressed wages in female-dominated industries, and whether using such jobs as an equivalent leads to the undervaluing of unpaid work. Some have argued that education levels ought to be comparable, for example, "the value of time that a college-educated parent spends reading aloud to a child should be ascertained by asking how much it would cost to hire a college-educated worker to do the same, not by an average housekeeper's wage."<ref name=Folbre /> =====Difficulties with input-output methods===== Critiques against the input-output methods include the difficulty of identifying and measuring household outputs, and the issues of variation of households and these effects.<ref name=Mullan />
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