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A Life Cycle Perspective on Changes in Earnings Inequality among Married Men and Women

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  • John Pencavel

Abstract

The connection between changes in earnings inequality of individuals and changes in family earnings involves several links: the movements in the employment of different family members, the association between changes in husbands' and in wives' earnings, and patterns of assortative mating. A decomposition of the logarithm of the coefficient of variation in family earnings identifies these links. The data on the dispersion of family earnings are organized not simply over time, but also by age. The growth in wives' relative employment and earnings has partly offset the effects on family earnings inequality of the increase in husbands' earnings inequality. Copyright by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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  • John Pencavel, 2006. "A Life Cycle Perspective on Changes in Earnings Inequality among Married Men and Women," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(2), pages 232-242, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:88:y:2006:i:2:p:232-242
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    1. Richard Breen & Signe Andersen, 2012. "Educational Assortative Mating and Income Inequality in Denmark," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(3), pages 867-887, August.
    2. El Lahga, AbdelRahmen & Moreau, Nicolas, 2007. "Would you Marry me? The Effects of Marriage on German Couples? Allocation of Time," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-024, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Richard V. Burkhauser & Shuaizhang Feng & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2009. "Using The P90/P10 Index To Measure U.S. Inequality Trends With Current Population Survey Data: A View From Inside The Census Bureau Vaults," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(1), pages 166-185, March.
    4. Olivier Donni & Eleonora Matteazzi, 2012. "On the Importance of Household Production in Collective Models: Evidence from U.S. Data," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 105-106, pages 99-125.
    5. Shao-Hsun Keng & Peter F. Orazem, 2019. "Performance pay, the marriage market and rising income inequality in Taiwan," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 969-992, September.
    6. Ostrovsky, Yuri, 2012. "The correlation of spouses' permanent and transitory earnings and family earnings inequality in Canada," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 756-768.
    7. Hryshko, Dmytro & Juhn, Chinhui & McCue, Kristin, 2017. "Trends in earnings inequality and earnings instability among U.S. couples: How important is assortative matching?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 168-182.
    8. Milan Bouchet-Valat, 2017. "Does women’s employment growth increase wage inequalities between couples? The case of France between 1982 and 2014," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (INSEE), issue 493, pages 67-85.
    9. Pencavel, John, 2006. "Earnings Inequality and Market Work in Husband-Wife Families," IZA Discussion Papers 2235, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Chimere O. Iheonu & Ozoemena S. Nwodo & Uchechi S. Anaduaka & Ugochinyere Ekpo, 2020. "Inequality and Female Labour Force Participation in West Africa," Working Papers 20/076, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    11. Ayal Kimhi, 2009. "Male Income, Female Income, and Household Income Inequality in Israel: A Decomposition Analysis," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 18(3-4), pages 34-48, September.
    12. El Lahga, Abdel Rahmen & Moreau, Nicolas, 2007. "The Effects of Marriage on Couples’ Allocation of Time Between Market and Non-Market Hours," IZA Discussion Papers 2619, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Kimhi, Ayal, 2011. "Can Female Non-Farm Labor Income Reduce Income Inequality? Evidence from Rural Southern Ethiopia," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114756, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Huang, Fung-Mey & Luh, Yir-Hueih & Huang, Fung-Yea, 2012. "Unemployment information and wives’ labor supply responses to husbands’ job loss in Taiwan," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 1176-1194.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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