The process of decision making in a family has an important bearing on
the intra-household dynamics and welfare of the household. Most models of
household decision making assume that the family as a whole is the decisionmaking
unit and there exists a single household utility function. Each member of
the household jointly maximises the level of utility for a given income. These
so-called ‘unitary models1
’ are based on the assumption that the tastes and
preferences of all household members are the same. What would be the
household welfare function if household members have different preferences?
This brings to the fore the questions about the distribution of resources within
the household2
. Accounting for the variations in the preferences and tastes of the
household members does not permit the treatment of the family as a single
decision-making unit. In such a situation the utility maximisation depends on a
collective decision process and the household welfare index depends on prices,
incomes and the tastes of the household members.