Within the field of

microeconomics Microeconomics is a branch of mainstream economics that studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. Microeconomics fo ...

, the "core sphere" of the economy consists of households, families, and community groups that organize the many important economic activities central to sustaining human life.

Neva Goodwin Neva Goodwin Rockefeller (born June 1, 1944), known professionally as Neva Goodwin, is co-director of the Global Development And Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University, where she is a research associate at the Fletcher School of Law an ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

outlines the functions of the core sphere to include: * Child bearing and child raising * Care of the sick, elderly, or otherwise needy * The final stage of production of many goods and services * The organization of savings and investment * Allocation of consumption spending * Decisions regarding investing in and maintaining human capital * Decisions regarding the supply of labor services * The organization and use of leisure time These human resources make up the core sphere of the economy, and they play significant roles in our lives. It was noted by Goodwin that if a monetary value were placed on the work generated by the core sphere in the United States, it would add to approximately $3.9 trillion and would account for approximately 30% of the total product. Long before the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, the core sphere was the entire economy. Families and communities provided for themselves by hunting and gathering. Then with industrialization came a market of competitive men working for wages and along with it what historians call the cult of domesticity. The core sphere became regarded not as part of the market sphere of the economy but more as emotional and altruistic behavior. Therefore, activities in the core sphere were not considered economic because they do not directly influence the market economy. As time has progressed towards the present, organizations such as daycare centers, nursing homes, and household cleaning businesses began to exist as paid jobs. But the cult of domesticity still lingers on in present day. The

Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of t ...

published data in 2010 showing that women on average spend .72 more hours than men doing household activities and .34 more hours taking care of household members. The data showed than men on average spend 1.15 more hours working than women and also .75 more hours on leisure activities. The distinction of the core sphere as a noneconomic sector of the economy has its drawbacks.

Care work Care work is a sub-category of work that includes all tasks that directly involve care processes done in service of others. It is often differentiated from other forms of work because it is considered to be intrinsically motivated. This perspectiv ...

is a term that stands for tasks done in the service of others, and it does not have any direct economic payoff. Nancy Folbre discusses “the care penalty” in her book ''The Invisible Heart''. She explains that care work is risky because it is done for people who are not obligated to return the favor. It has

opportunity costs In microeconomic theory, the opportunity cost of a particular activity is the value or benefit given up by engaging in that activity, relative to engaging in an alternative activity. More effective it means if you chose one activity (for example ...

because a person who performs care work is potentially sacrificing paid work. The monetary value of care work is often weighted by its

replacement cost The term replacement cost or replacement value refers to the amount that an entity would have to pay to replace an asset at the present time, according to its current worth. In the insurance industry, "replacement cost" or "replacement cost valu ...

. The unpaid work that makes up the core sphere of the economy creates social wealth, and at the same time subsidizes

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...

and

private wealth Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high- ...

Elson, Diane. "Unpaid Work: Creating Social Wealth or Subsidizing Patriarchy and Private." pp. 1-2. 2005.

References

{{Reflist Social concepts