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For worse? Financial hardships and intra-household resource allocation among Australian couples

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  • Botha, Ferdi
  • Ribar, David C.

Abstract

This article investigates differences in husbands' and wives' experiences of financial hardships. It develops and estimates a structural collective household model of expenditures on individual-specific necessities and hardship reporting where each partner has distinct preferences and the household makes Pareto efficient decisions. Using data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey with unique questions on individual financial hardships, we examine whether differences in preferences, bargaining power, or other characteristics within households affect the distribution of hardships. Wives in our data report more financial hardships than husbands. Estimates from our structural model indicate that wives have weaker preferences than husbands for expenditures on necessary goods for themselves, but there is no evidence of differences in bargaining power. Estimates further indicate that hardships increase with the number of children and spouses' disability status and decrease with spouses’ ages and subjective financial capabilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Botha, Ferdi & Ribar, David C., 2023. "For worse? Financial hardships and intra-household resource allocation among Australian couples," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:119:y:2023:i:c:s0264999322003510
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2022.106114
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    1. Xiangdan Piao, 2023. "Intra-Household Income Management and Couple’s Relative Sharing of Income and Environment Sustainability in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial hardship; Intra-household allocation; Couples; Collective model; Australia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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