UNITARY VERSUS COLLECTIVE MODELS OF THE HOUSEHOLD - IS IT TIME TO SHIFT THE BURDEN OF PROOF

Most development objectives focus on the well-being of individuals. Po licies are targeted to increase the percentage of individuals who avoi d poverty, who can read, who are free from hunger and illness, or who can find gainful employment. individual welfare, however, is based in large part on a complex set of interactions among family members. Unti l recently most policy analyses implicitly viewed the household as hav ing only one set of preferences. This assumption has been a powerful t ool for understanding household behavior, such as the distribution of tasks and goods. But a growing body of evidence suggests that this vie w is an expedience that comes at considerable, and possibly avoidable, cost. The article argues that more effective policy instruments will emerge from analyzing the processes by which households balance the di verse interests of their members.