The Third Realm
Women and men try to make good choices. But their range of choice is shaped by social norms and limited by other people's power. Women who know exactly what they want may be unable to get it unless they work with others to change the structures of constraint.
Even those who give freely of their love may withdraw it in the long run if they feel that it is neither honored nor reciprocated.The neoclassical economic tradition celebrates individual decisions, worrying about the effects of any interference with them. Economists who worry more about the unintended consequences of individual decisions, including those working within the Keynesian tradition—insist on the need for social coordination. Most economists continue to interpret this tension in dualistic terms, contrasting the realm of the market with the realm of the state. The increasing importance of human capital dramatizes the realm of family life. Much as we like to think of ourselves as producers, we are, ourselves, produced.
Parents recognize that their own decisions will influence their children's values, norms, and preferences at least to some extent. Likewise, economists should recognize that our institutional arrangements influence what we want as well as what we get. What then should we want? Economists like Milton Friedman and Gary Becker avoid this question, for fear that moral concerns will threaten scientific objectivity.