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Who is happier: Housewife or working wife?

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  • Beja Jr, Edsel

Abstract

Earlier research found no difference in the happiness between a housewife and a working wife. However, there now is the expectation that a difference in their happiness exists today given the increase in the labor participation of women over the years. This paper revisits the debate using data from the 2000s. For the upper- and low-income economies, there is still no difference in the happiness between a housewife and a working wife. In contrast, results for the middle-income economies clearly show that a part-time working wife is happier than a housewife and that both part-time working wife and housewife are happier than a full-time working wife.

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  • Beja Jr, Edsel, 2012. "Who is happier: Housewife or working wife?," MPRA Paper 40533, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:40533
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    1. What makes the wife happier?
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2012-08-28 19:55:00

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    5. Hossain, Mahbub & Asadullah, M. Niaz & Kambhampati, Uma, 2019. "Empowerment and life satisfaction: Evidence from Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 170-183.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Housewife; working wife; happiness; life satisfaction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • B54 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Feminist Economics
    • C80 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - General

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