IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v5y2016i3p47-d77451.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Income Sharing within Households: Evidence from Data on Financial Satisfaction

Author

Listed:
  • Susanne Elsas

    (Department of Economics, University of Bamberg, Feldkirchenstr. 21, 96052 Bamberg, Germany)

Abstract

This paper contributes to the understanding of gender aspects in the intra-household sharing of income. I estimate models of differences in financial satisfaction between household partners using panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, which allows one to account for household-level fixed effects. The paper adds to the literature a further convincing rejection of the equal sharing hypothesis. What is more and novel, the results imply that unequal income sharing is asymmetric and triggered by the relative employment statuses of the partners: in male breadwinner households, the women’s well-being is affected by the distribution factor; in double full-time couples, it is the man’s well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Susanne Elsas, 2016. "Income Sharing within Households: Evidence from Data on Financial Satisfaction," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-16, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:5:y:2016:i:3:p:47-:d:77451
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/47/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/47/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ekaterina Kalugina & Natalia Radtchenko & Catherine Sofer, 2009. "How Do Spouses Share Their Full Income? Identification Of The Sharing Rule Using Self‐Reported Income," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(2), pages 360-391, June.
    2. Johannes Schwarze, 2003. "Using Panel Data on Income Satisfaction to Estimate Equivalence Scale Elasticity," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 49(3), pages 359-372, September.
    3. Grossbard,Shoshana A. (ed.), 2003. "Marriage and the Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521814546.
    4. Frick, Joachim R. & Goebel, Jan & Schechtman, Edna & Wagner, Gert G. & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 2006. "Using Analysis of Gini (ANOGI) for Detecting Whether Two Subsamples Represent the Same Universe: The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) Experience," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 427-468.
    5. Guven, Cahit & Senik, Claudia & Stichnoth, Holger, 2012. "You can’t be happier than your wife. Happiness gaps and divorce," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 110-130.
    6. Susan Himmelweit, & Almudena Sevilla-Sanz, & Christina Santos, & Catherine Sofer, 2013. "Sharing of Resources within the Family and the Economics of Household Decision-making," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-01122285, HAL.
    7. Ekaterina Kalugina & Natalia Radtchenko & Catherine Sofer, 2009. "How Do Spouses Share their Full Income in Russia?: Identification of the Sharing Rule Using Self-reported Income," Post-Print halshs-00368422, HAL.
    8. Frances Woolley, 2000. "Control over Money in Marriage," Carleton Economic Papers 00-07, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised 2003.
    9. Rob Alessie & Thomas Crossley & Vincent Hildebrand, 2006. "Estimating a collective household model with survey data on financial satisfaction," IFS Working Papers W06/19, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Andrew E. Clark & Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields, 2008. "Relative Income, Happiness, and Utility: An Explanation for the Easterlin Paradox and Other Puzzles," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 95-144, March.
    11. Shelley A. Phipps & Peter S. Burton, 1998. "What’s Mine is Yours? The Influence of Male and Female Incomes on Patterns of Household Expenditure," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(260), pages 599-613, November.
    12. Gert G. Wagner & Joachim R. Frick & Jürgen Schupp, 2007. "The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) – Scope, Evolution and Enhancements," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 127(1), pages 139-169.
    13. Julie L. Hotchkiss, 2005. "Do Husbands and Wives Pool Their Resources?: Further Evidence," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(2).
    14. Shelley A. Phipps & Peter S. Burton, 1995. "Sharing within Families: Implications for the Measurement of Poverty among Individuals in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 28(1), pages 177-204, February.
    15. repec:adr:anecst:y:1993:i:29:p:07 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Grossbard,Shoshana A. (ed.), 2003. "Marriage and the Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521891431.
    17. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2004. "How Important is Methodology for the estimates of the determinants of Happiness?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(497), pages 641-659, July.
    18. Shelly J. Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak & Terence J. Wales, 1997. "Do Husbands and Wives Pool Their Resources? Evidence from the United Kingdom Child Benefit," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(3), pages 463-480.
    19. Namkee Ahn & Victoria Ateca-Amestoy & Arantza Ugidos, 2014. "Financial Satisfaction from an Intra-Household Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 1109-1123, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jaslin K Kalsi & Siobhan Austen & Astghik Mavisakalyan, 2022. "Employment and the distribution of intra-household financial satisfaction," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 33(2), pages 329-350, June.
    2. Susanne Elsas, 2021. "Causality in the Link between Income and Satisfaction: IV Estimation with Internal Instruments," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1143, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Susanne Elsas, 2013. "Pooling and Sharing Income within Households: A Satisfaction Approach," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 587, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    2. Ekaterina Kalugina & Catherine Sofer & Natalia Radtchenko, 2009. "Intra-household inequality in transitional Russia," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 447-471, December.
    3. Jens Bonke & Hans Uldall-Poulsen, 2007. "Why do families actually pool their income? Evidence from Denmark," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 113-128, June.
    4. Paul Fisher, 2016. "British tax credit simplification, the intra-household distribution of income and family consumption," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 68(2), pages 444-464.
    5. Selamah Yusof, 2015. "Household Decision-Making in Malaysia: The Ethnic Dimension," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 283-293, October.
    6. Selamah Abdullah Yusof & Jarita Duasa, 2010. "Household Decision-Making and Expenditure Patterns of Married Men and Women in Malaysia," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 371-381, September.
    7. San Vicente Portes, Luis & Atal, Vidya & Juárez Torres, Miriam, 2019. "From households to national statistics: Macroeconomic effects of Women's empowerment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 286-294.
    8. Aline Bütikofer & Michael Gerfin, 2017. "The economies of scale of living together and how they are shared: estimates based on a collective household model," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 433-453, June.
    9. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Bonke, Jens & Grossbard, Shoshana, 2010. "Income Pooling and Household Division of Labor: Evidence from Danish Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 5418, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Eva M. Sierminska & Joachim R. Frick & Markus M. Grabka, 2010. "Examining the gender wealth gap," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 62(4), pages 669-690, October.
    11. Eva M. Sierminska & Joachim R. Frick & Markus M. Grabka, 2008. "Examining the Gender Wealth Gap in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 115, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Schröder, Carsten & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 2017. "Revisiting the evidence for cardinal treatment of ordinal variables," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 337-358.
    13. Frances Woolley, 2004. "Why Pay Child Benefits to Mothers?," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 30(1), pages 47-69, March.
    14. Pierre–André Chiappori & Natalia Radchenko & Bernard Salanié, 2018. "Divorce and the duality of marital payoff," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 833-858, September.
    15. Donni, Olivier & Molina, José Alberto, 2018. "Household Collective Models: Three Decades of Theoretical Contributions and Empirical Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 11915, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Bertocchi, Graziella & Brunetti, Marianna & Torricelli, Costanza, 2014. "Who holds the purse strings within the household? The determinants of intra-family decision making," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 65-86.
    17. Andrew E. Clark, 2015. "SWB as a Measure of Individual Well-Being," Working Papers halshs-01134483, HAL.
    18. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Xavier Ramos, 2010. "Inequality Aversion and Risk Attitudes," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 271, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    19. Hannes Schwandt, 2013. "Unmet Aspirations as an Explanation for the Age U-Shape in Human Wellbeing," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 580, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    20. Budría, Santiago & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada, 2012. "Income Comparisons and Non-Cognitive Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 6419, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:5:y:2016:i:3:p:47-:d:77451. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.