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My Baby Takes the Morning Train: Gender Identity, Fairness, and Relative Labor Supply Within Households

Author

Listed:
  • Lepinteur, Anthony

    (University of Luxembourg)

  • Flèche, Sarah

    (CNRS)

  • Powdthavee, Nattavudh

    (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)

Abstract

The current study argues that women's decision to leave the labor force at the point where their income exceeds their husbands' income may have less to do with gender identity norm (Bertrand et al., 2015) and more to do with what women think is a fair distribution of relative working hours within the household. Using three nationally-representative data, we show that life satisfaction is significantly lower among women whose work hours exceed their partners, holding the share of wife's income constant. Men, by contrast, are not affected by working longer or fewer hours than their wives.

Suggested Citation

  • Lepinteur, Anthony & Flèche, Sarah & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2016. "My Baby Takes the Morning Train: Gender Identity, Fairness, and Relative Labor Supply Within Households," IZA Discussion Papers 10382, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10382
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Menta, Giorgia & Lepinteur, Anthony, 2021. "Boys don’t cry (or do the dishes): Family size and the housework gender gap," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 164-188.
    2. Drahomíra Zajíèková & Miroslav Zajíèek, 2022. "The Fatherhood Premium or the Fatherhood Penalty? It Depends on the Type of Marriage You’re in: The Case of Slovakia 2009 through 2018," Journal of Economics / Ekonomicky casopis, Institute of Economic Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, vol. 70(7-8), pages 646-677, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fairness; gender identity; life satisfaction; relative income; working hours; labor supply;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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