The Institutions Hub pilot study, ‘Opening the Black-box of the household’ seeks to offer a proof of concept that the household - an institution with a recognisable set of socio-cultural relations that are deeply integrated into market society – is an important concept that will contribute to the rebuilding of macroeconomics. The research design triangulates three qualitative methods to produce a comprehensive breadth of evidence to provide proof the validity of the household as a recogniseable and deployable concept in macroeconomic policy making. First, an in-depth thematic literature review of different strands of feminist critique of economics and alternative conceptualisations of the household they put forward.

Second, textual analysis of institutional documentation from the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority (2009-19). Discourse analysis illustrates how the household is made visible within the macroeconomic landscapes of monetary and financial regulation: (i) for conceptual stretching beyond the quasi-legal regulatory boundary imposed by the agency remit; (ii) for reductively reforming the household into a simple, but recognisable, balance sheet. This is significant because the household is not invisible in public policy making, indeed it is deployed as a useful tool.