Cournot-Nash Family Decision and Economic Growth in an Extended Solowian Model

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study economic growth with family-based microeconomic foundation. It develops a neoclassical growth model of endogenous wealth accumulation and consumption of two-person families. Growth mechanism and economic structures are based on a generalized Solowian growth model with Zhang’s concept of disposable income and utility. Each spouse maximizes his/her utility function which is dependent on his/her egocentric utility function and the spouse’s egocentric utility function. One’s egocentric utility function is related to one’s private consumption of goods, consumption of family goods, and saving made out of one’s own disposable income. The couple’s decisions are interdependent and are modelled as a Cournot-Nash game. Our model endogenously determines intra-household wealth accumulation and resource allocation on consumption and saving. The paper make an integration of some basic ideas in neoclassical growth theory and family economics. We conduct comparative dynamic analyses to show how the movement of the economy is affected by different exogenous changes in gender relations, preferences, and technologies.