Household
The
household is the basic unit of analysis in many
microeconomic and
government models. The term refers to all individuals who live in the same
dwelling.
Most
economic models do not address whether the members of a household are a
family in the traditional sense. Government and policy discussions often treat the terms
household and
family as synonymous, especially in
western societies where the
nuclear family has become the most common family structure. In reality, there is not always a one-to-one relationship between households and families.
For statistical purposes in the
United Kingdom, a household is defined as "one person or a group of people who have the accommodation as their only or main residence and for a group, either share at least one
meal a day or share the living accommodation, that is, a
living room or sitting room"
National Statistics.
The
United States Census definition similarly turns on "separate living quarters", i.e. "those in which the occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building" [
1]. A
householder in the U.S. census is the "person (or one of the people) in whose name the housing unit is owned or rented (maintained);" if no person qualifies, any adult resident of a housing unit is a householder. The U.S. government formerly used the term
head of the household and
head of the family to describe householders; beginning in
1980, these terms were officially dropped from the census and replaced with
householder.
[U.S. Census: Current Population Survey - Definitions and Explanations]Most economic theories assume there is only one
income stream to a household; this a useful simplification for modeling, but does not necessarily reflect reality. Some households now include multiple income-earning members.
In
feudal or
aristocratic societies, a household may include
servants or retainers, whether or not they are explicitly so named. Their roles may blur the line between a family member and an employee. In such cases, they ultimately derive their income from the household's principal income.
*
Household income in the United States*
domotics*
domestic worker*
domestic robot*
household chemicals*
list of common household pests*
household deity*
household consumption expenditures*
household final consumption expenditure*
Household Cyclopedia*
Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
