The Treatise tries to analyze not only modern Western families, but also those in other cultures and the changes in family structure during the past several centuries.

Anderson senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He is married to Guity Nashat a historian of the Middle East whose research interests overlap his own. A political conservative he wrote a monthly column for Business Week from 1985 to 2004 alternating with liberal Princeton economist Alan Blinder.

He is also among the foremost exponents of the study of human capital. He is married to Guity Nashat a historian of the Middle East whose research interests overlap his own. His approach can include altruistic behavior by defining individuals' utility appropriately.