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Does Income Taxation Affect Partners' Household Chores?

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  • van Soest, Arthur

    (Tilburg University)

  • Stancanelli, Elena G. F.

    (Paris School of Economics)

Abstract

We study the impact of income taxation on both partners' allocation of time to market work and unpaid house work in households with two adults. We estimate a structural household utility model in which the marginal utilities of leisure and house work of both partners are modelled as random coefficients, depending on observed and unobserved characteristics of the household and the two partners. We use a discrete choice model with choice sets of 2,401 points for each couple, distinguishing seven market work intervals and seven house work intervals for each partner. The model is estimated using data for France, which taxes incomes of married couples jointly, like, for instance, Germany and the US. We find that both partners’ market and non-market time allocation decisions are responsive to changes in the tax system or other policy changes that change the financial incentives. Women's time allocation is more responsive to the own and the partner’s wage rate than men's. Tax policy simulations suggest that moving from joint taxation for married couples to separate taxation of each spouse would go a small step in the direction of equalizing market and non-market work of spouses. Selective taxation with smaller tax rates for women than for men would magnify these effects.

Suggested Citation

  • van Soest, Arthur & Stancanelli, Elena G. F., 2010. "Does Income Taxation Affect Partners' Household Chores?," IZA Discussion Papers 5038, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5038
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Knoef, M.G., 2011. "Essays on labor force participation, aging, income and health," Other publications TiSEM 2ac55c2f-b678-457d-b936-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Stancanelli, Elena G. F., 2012. "Spouses' Retirement and Hours Outcomes: Evidence from Twofold Regression Discontinuity with Differences-in-Differences," IZA Discussion Papers 6791, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Knoef, Marike & Kooreman, Peter, 2011. "The Effects of Cooperation: A Structural Model of Siblings' Caregiving Interactions," IZA Discussion Papers 5733, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Elena Stancanelli, 2012. "Spouses' Retirement and Hours of Work Outcomes: Evidence from Twofold Regression Discontinuity," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 12074, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    5. Elena Stancanelli, 2012. "Spouses' Retirement and Hours of Work Outcomes : Evidence from Twofold Regression Discontinuity," Post-Print halshs-00755648, HAL.
    6. Patricia Apps & Jan Kabátek & Ray Rees & Arthur Soest, 2016. "Labor supply heterogeneity and demand for child care of mothers with young children," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1641-1677, December.
    7. Matias Busso & Dario Romero Fonseca, 2015. "Female Labor Force Participation in Latin America: Patterns and Explanations," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0187, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    8. Eleftherios Giovanis, 2018. "Are Women Happier When Their Spouse is Teleworker?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 719-754, March.
    9. Luis A. Gil-Alana & Marinko Skare, 2018. "Testing the great decoupling: a long memory approach," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 801-820, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    discrete choice models; time use; taxation; labour supply;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • C35 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions

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