This paper explains the existing cross-country differences in household formation rates in industrialized countries by highlighting how an individual`s probability to form a household may be affected by social norms toward the household division of labor. Because social norms are to a large extent enforced through non-market interactions they are difficult to isolate empirically. Two identification strategies are proposed. First, a diff-in-diff like approach is used for the identification of the effect of social norms net of other country-specific and time varying factors. A second identification strategy uses an individual`s reported attitudes toward the household division of labor to allow for the identification of the effect of social norms net of individual preferences. Empirical results support the predictions of a household formation model where less egalitarian social norms decrease the supply of men in the household market by increasing a man`s cost of providing household labor. Both men and women living in more egalitarian countries have, everything else equal, a higher probability of forming a household. Furthermore, consistent with the theory, individual attitudes run opposite to social norms for the case of women. Whereas ceteris paribus a more egalitarian woman has a lower probability of forming a household, a woman living in a more egalitarian country has, everthing else equal, a higher probability of forming a household.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Oxford, Department of Economics in its series Economics Series Working Papers with number
325.
Find related papers by JEL classification: D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks Economic Anthropology
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)