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Husbands’ Housework Time: Does Wives’ Paid Employment Make a Difference?

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  • Begoña Álvarez
  • Daniel Miles

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the effect of a woman’s decision to enter paid employment on their husband’s contribution to domestic work. To explore this issue, we analyze cross-sectional data on Spanish couples. Our results suggest that this decision to participate in the labor market increases husbands’ housework time. However, these estimates may be subject to an omitted variable bias due to the correlation between unobservable variables, e.g., social norms, determining both decisions. Once we take into account this endogeneity problem, we find a larger impact of the wife’s labor status on the husband’s contribution to housework.

Suggested Citation

  • Begoña Álvarez & Daniel Miles, 2004. "Husbands’ Housework Time: Does Wives’ Paid Employment Make a Difference?," Working Papers 0402, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.
    • Handle: RePEc:vig:wpaper:0402
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nicodemo, Catia & Waldmann, Robert, 2009. "Child-Care and Participation in the Labor Market for Married Women in Mediterranean Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 3983, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Begoña Álvarez & Daniel Miles-Touya, 2019. "Gender imbalance in housework allocation: a question of time?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1257-1287, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    time allocation; gender relations; count data; endogeneity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • 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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