Abstract
This paper develops a model of the relation between household labor and wage labor within a Marxian value theory framework. The model is used to show that the male wage laborer/female household laborer form of the family is likely to be advantageous for capitalism in its early stages, but not in its later stages. The model is also used to explore the process of the rise of the dual wage earner family in the post-World War II period and its connection with the decline in real wages and the problem of overwork in the U.S. during the past two decades.