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Do Couples Pool Their Income?

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  • Beznoska, Martin

Abstract

Whether couples pool their resources and behave like a unit or spend their income individually is crucial for social and tax policy. In this paper, I provide a test of the income pooling hypothesis using administrative cross-sectional survey data on expenditures and individual incomes of couple households in Germany. The test is performed within the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) framework, which allows for an endogenous expenditure budget and endogenous individual income contribution shares in an instrumental variables approach. Although the hypothesis is broadly rejected, there are significant differences regarding the marital status, the presence of at least one child in the household and whether the household is located in a former West or East German federal state. Married couples and couples with children are closer to the acceptance of the hypothesis than unmarried couples without children.

Suggested Citation

  • Beznoska, Martin, 2019. "Do Couples Pool Their Income?," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203490, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc19:203490
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    2. Bachmann Ronald & Jäger Philipp & Jessen Robin, 2021. "A Split Decision: Welche Auswirkungen hätte die Abschaffung des Ehegattensplittings auf das Arbeitsangebot und die Einkommensverteilung?," Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 70(2), pages 105-131, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income Pooling; Intra-Household Allocation; Consumer Demand; QUAIDS;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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