The Household The Household Informal Order around the Hearth Robert C. Ellickson Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford Copyright © 2008 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press,41 William Street,Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom:Princeton University Press,6 Oxford Street, Woodstock,Oxfordshire OX20 1TW All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ellickson,Robert C. The household :informal order around the hearth / Robert C. Ellickson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-691-13442-0 (hardcover :alk.paper) 1. Households— Economic aspects. 2. Consumption (Economics) 3. Informal sector (Economics) I. Title. HB820.E45 2008 339.4(cid:2)7—dc22 2008003203 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Adobe Caslon Pro Printed on acid-free paper.(cid:3) press.princeton.edu Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To the members ofthe household who first instructed me in homeways: Katherine Pollak Ellickson,my mother John Chester Ellickson,my father Margaret Ellickson Senturia,my sister Barbara O’Leary Singleton (Nana) Contents Preface xi Chapter 1 how households differ from families 1 Chapter 2 household formation and dissolution in a liberal society 10 Three Distinct Relationships that May Exist within a Household 10 Foundational Liberal Rights that Enable Individuals to Fashion Their Own Households 13 Household Surplus and Its Distribution among Members 22 viii Contents Chapter 3 the predominant strategy: consorting with intimates 27 Favoring Those with Whom One Will Have Continuing Relations 29 Limiting the Number ofPersons in the Relationship 32 Favoring Homogeneity ofTastes and Stakes 32 Chapter 4 a historical overview of household forms 35 Occupants ofHouseholds:The Predominance ofSmall,Kin-Based Clusters 35 Owners ofDwelling Units 41 Residential Landlord-Tenant Relationships 44 Chapter 5 are the household forms that endure necessarily best? 46 Utopian Designs ofUnconventional Households 46 Possible Imperfections,from a Liberal Perspective,in the Process ofHousehold Formation 47 Is Liberalism Overly Destructive ofSolidarity? 51 The Unpromising History ofExperiments with Unconventional Household Forms 53 Contents ix Chapter 6 choosing which of a household’s participants should serve as its owners 60 Basic Concepts in the Theory ofthe Ownership ofEnterprise 60 Why Suppliers ofa Household’s At-Risk Capital Tend to End Up Owning It 64 Chapter 7 the mixed blessings of joining with others 76 Adding Co-Occupants 76 Adding Co-Owners 85 Choosing between Owning and Renting a Home 86 Chapter 8 order without law in an ongoing household 92 The Tendency toward Welfare-Maximizing Substantive and Procedural Rules 94 Sources ofHousehold Rules:In General 101 Rules for Co-Occupants 109 Rules for Co-Owners 120 Rules to Govern the Landlord-Tenant Relationship 123