Information Spillovers within Couples: Evidence from a Sequential Survey of Spouses

Little is known about the extent and drivers of information flow within couples, and whether spouses hold aligned expectations about the same outcomes. To provide new evidence, we conduct an online survey of 2,200 middle-aged married couples in the US. Our focus is on expectations about Social Security benefits. We first document misalignment in expectations: the correlation between partners’ beliefs about a given spouse’s Social Security benefits is 0.70, well below full agreement. We also show that this imperfect alignment is systematically associated with couple-specific characteristics. To establish causal evidence on information spillovers, we implement a randomized information experiment paired with a sequential survey design, where the index spouse receives targeted information, and the other is surveyed a few days later. Our findings reveal that information provided to the index spouse partially spills over to their partner, with the average treatment effect on the second spouse’s expectations being about half that observed for the index spouse. Using detailed survey data on measures of communication frictions, cognitive barriers, and the value of information, we identify key drivers of information flow. Spillovers are larger when communication barriers are low and when the information is particularly valuable. We also show that the information treatment enhances conditions for better intra-household decision-making. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of incorporating realistic communication frictions into models of household decision-making.