The degree to which wives' work decisions reflect the fulfillment of efficiency principles versus a response to social norms and personal needs was analyzed. The National Longitudinal Survey of Women, who were 30 to 44 years of age, provided the data base. To determine if women's work decisions were consistent with maximizing their economic return to work (the maximum market value of their maximum work hours), a wage rate and a time frame of socially required and unconstrained time were formulated. An income test (the family income excluding the woman's earnings does not equal the poverty threshold) was also considered. Use of the standard efficiency test based on wages indicated that women's work decisions were not very economical. The majority of the decisions were market-oriented; women were working more than predicted. The standard interpretation of the outcome would be that these women subjectively value the market goods and services they buy with their earnings more than they value the output of their home activities. (YLB)