This chapter, titled "Family Investments in Human Capital: Earnings of Women," by Jacob Mincer and Solomon Polachek, explores the relationship between family investments in human capital and the market earnings of women. The authors argue that the allocation of time and resources within families is a complex interplay of individual and family needs, activities, and characteristics. They focus on the division of labor within families, which is influenced by complementary and substitutive relationships and comparative advantages in skills and earning potential. The chapter introduces the concept of the "human-capital earnings function," which posits that earnings are a function of the accumulated human capital. This function is formalized using mathematical equations to illustrate how investments in education and job training affect long-term earnings. The authors decompose net investments into gross investments and depreciation, and they analyze the impact of these factors on the earnings of women, particularly those who have experienced discontinuous work histories due to marriage and childbearing. Empirical findings from the 1967 National Longitudinal Survey of Work Experience (NLS) are presented, showing that the investment profiles of married women are not monotonic but rather show peaks before and after periods of nonparticipation. The authors also examine the effects of family size, formal postschool training, mobility, and other variables on earnings. They find that while family size generally has a negative effect on earnings, formal training and mobility can have positive impacts. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the predictive power of the earnings function and the inequality in women's wages, suggesting that the function can explain a significant portion of the relative dispersion in wage rates among white married women and single women.This chapter, titled "Family Investments in Human Capital: Earnings of Women," by Jacob Mincer and Solomon Polachek, explores the relationship between family investments in human capital and the market earnings of women. The authors argue that the allocation of time and resources within families is a complex interplay of individual and family needs, activities, and characteristics. They focus on the division of labor within families, which is influenced by complementary and substitutive relationships and comparative advantages in skills and earning potential. The chapter introduces the concept of the "human-capital earnings function," which posits that earnings are a function of the accumulated human capital. This function is formalized using mathematical equations to illustrate how investments in education and job training affect long-term earnings. The authors decompose net investments into gross investments and depreciation, and they analyze the impact of these factors on the earnings of women, particularly those who have experienced discontinuous work histories due to marriage and childbearing. Empirical findings from the 1967 National Longitudinal Survey of Work Experience (NLS) are presented, showing that the investment profiles of married women are not monotonic but rather show peaks before and after periods of nonparticipation. The authors also examine the effects of family size, formal postschool training, mobility, and other variables on earnings. They find that while family size generally has a negative effect on earnings, formal training and mobility can have positive impacts. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the predictive power of the earnings function and the inequality in women's wages, suggesting that the function can explain a significant portion of the relative dispersion in wage rates among white married women and single women.