Revisiting Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households – A cautionary tale on the potential pitfalls of density estimators

Abstract We examine causes and consequences of relative income within households. We show that the distribution of the share of income earned by the wife exhibits a sharp drop to the right of 12 , where the wife’s income exceeds the husband’s income. We argue that this pattern is best explained by gender identity norms, which induce an aversion to a situation where the wife earns more than her husband. We present evidence that this aversion also impacts marriage formation, the wife’s labor force participation, the wife’s income conditional on working, marriage satisfaction, likelihood of divorce, and the division of home production. Within marriage markets, when a randomly chosen woman becomes more likely to earn more than a randomly chosen man, marriage rates decline. In couples where the wife’s potential income is likely to exceed the husband’s, the wife is less likely to be in the labor force and earns less than her potential if she does work. In couples where the wife earns more than the husband, the wife spends more time on household chores; moreover, those couples are less satisfied with their marriage and are more likely to divorce. These patterns hold both cross-sectionally and within couples over time.

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Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households: Evidence from Sweden

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.2696372 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Karin Hederos Eriksson ◽

Anders Stenberg

Keyword(s):

Gender Identity ◽

Relative Income

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Wenn Frauen mehr als ihre Männer verdienen

Die Wirtschaft im Wandel ◽

10.1007/978-3-658-31735-5_26 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 163-167

Author(s):

Roberta Maria Koch

Keyword(s):

Gender Identity ◽

Relative Income ◽

Quarterly Journal

ZusammenfassungDie Frauen haben aufgeholt. Die steigenden Löhne der Frauen und ihre zunehmende Erwerbstätigkeit zeigen ihre wachsende Bedeutung in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Der Trend setzt sich in den Familien fort. Die Familien, in denen die Frauen sich im Beitrag zum Familieneinkommen den Männern annähern, werden immer häufiger. Sobald jedoch die Frauen mehr als ihre Männer verdienen, nimmt der Anteil dieser Haushalte in der gesamten Bevölkerung schlagartig ab. Auch die Scheidungsraten nehmen in dieser Konstellation zu. Hoch qualifizierte Frauen machen bisweilen kostspielige Kompromisse, um Konflikten auszuweichen. Es scheint schwierig, mit traditionellen Rollenbildern zu brechen. Diesen Prozess zu beschleunigen, würde nicht nur der Qualität des Familienlebens nützen, sondern auch Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft zugutekommen.Marianne Bertrand, Emir Kamenica und Jessica Pan (2015), Gender Identity and Relative Income Within Households, Quarterly Journal of Economics 130(2), 571–614.

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Gender identity, preference, and relative income within households

China Economic Review ◽

10.1016/j.chieco.2021.101741 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 101741

Author(s):

Yucong Zhao ◽

Bing Ye ◽

Jinchuan Shi

Keyword(s):

Gender Identity ◽

Relative Income

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Gender Identity, Coworking Spouses, and Relative Income within Households

American Economic Journal Applied Economics ◽

10.1257/app.20180542 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 258-284

Author(s):

Natalia Zinovyeva ◽

Maryna Tverdostup

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Gender Identity ◽

Alternative Explanation ◽

Relative Income ◽

The United States ◽

Relative Earnings ◽

The Right ◽

Employee Data

Bertrand, Kamenica, and Pan (2015) document that in the United States there is a discontinuity to the right of 0.5 in the distribution of households according to the female share of total earnings, which they attribute to the existence of a gender identity norm. We provide an alternative explanation for this discontinuity. Using linked employer-employee data from Finland, we show that the discontinuity emerges as a result of equalization and convergence of earnings in coworking couples, and it is associated with an increase in the relative earnings of women, rather than a decrease as predicted by the norm. (JEL D12, J12, J16, J22, J31, Z13)

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