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For (Un)Love or (of) Taxes? How Taxing Bachelors Empowered Italian Women

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  • Enrico Rubolino
  • Enrico Rubolino

Abstract

Unpaid domestic work continues to fall largely on women, despite their growing presence in the workforce. This paper asks whether policies changing the relative bargaining position of spouses can disrupt this pattern. I use the introduction of a bachelor tax in fascist Italy to show that altering men’s incentives to marry shaped the allocation of domestic work. Men in tax-induced marriages took on more domestic work, while their wives gained time, agency, and better economic outcomes. Effects are long-lasting and transmitted across generations: women raised in households with more equitable labor divisions also perform less housework. The findings suggest shocks in bargaining power can loosen the hold of social norms and reconfigure domestic life.

Suggested Citation

  • Enrico Rubolino & Enrico Rubolino, 2025. "For (Un)Love or (of) Taxes? How Taxing Bachelors Empowered Italian Women," CESifo Working Paper Series 11998, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11998
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    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp11998.pdf
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    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household

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