Dual Incomes are they Worth It?
by drinker on Feb.14, 2009, under Economics, Random Thoughts for the Day
In today’s America dual incomes are the norm. But are they really worth it? I am not going to look into the value that someone places on going out and earning an income but I am just going to look at it from the stand point of supply and demand.
I believe that the first people that went out and began the dual income lifestyle were the only ones to truly see a bonus. This is because they were able to take advantage of the market before it adjusted to the increased supply of labor. When the two income household began to be the norm it increased the labor force. And given supply and demand this would have decreased the price of this labor. The market soon adjusted to this increased supply of labor and soon made dual incomes almost mandatory.
This of course was not all bad. Sure one hours of work pre-dual income was not the same but it also brought down prices because it increased the amount of goods and services. And I am not talking about the services offered at the Caesar’s of Atlantic city by the friendly women out of you league that talked to you. They are usually single income households unless she lives with her pimp. I am talking about the fact that there are more doctors, lawyers, factory workers, etc. that are in the workforce creating things you want or services you need.
The one thing that I believe that did get out-of-whack was real estate. This is primarly because no amount of extra labor can make more land. Well it can but its very expensive and environmentalist don’t like filling in swamps. The amount of land to put a house on has not increased but the money available for people to spend has. So if there is more money going after the same amount of resources the price will increase. And it has.
I will speak about the other costs and bonuses of dual incomes from a day to day life in a later post.
