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Does female breadwinning make partnerships less healthy or less stable?

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  • Foster, Gigi
  • Stratton, Leslie S.

Abstract

Using Bertrand, Kamenica and Pan’s (2015) original data, we find that female breadwinning is significantly associated with partnership problems only for older women in cross sections, but for younger ones in fixed-effects specifications. In more recent US and Australian data, female breadwinning is associated with a modestly higher dissolution risk and a fall in some measures of reported relationship quality, but mainly for young people in cohabiting partnerships and men in less educated partnerships. We suggest our results reflect changing norms plus market dynamics arising from the ease of access to superior partnership alternatives for women who out-earn their partners.

Suggested Citation

  • Foster, Gigi & Stratton, Leslie S., 2018. "Does female breadwinning make partnerships less healthy or less stable?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 259, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:259
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ariel J. Binder & David Lam, 2022. "Is There a Male-Breadwinner Norm? The Hazards of Inferring Preferences from Marriage Market Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(6), pages 1885-1914.
    2. Wieber, Anna & Holst, Elke, 2015. "Gender Identity and Women's Supply of Labor and Non-Market Work: Panel Data Evidence for Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 9471, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Kerwin Kofi Charles & Jonathan Guryan & Jessica Pan, 2018. "The Effects of Sexism on American Women: The Role of Norms vs. Discrimination," NBER Working Papers 24904, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Gigi Foster & Leslie S. Stratton, 2018. "Do significant labor market events change who does the chores? Paid work, housework, and power in mixed-gender Australian households," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 483-519, April.
    5. Marianne Bertrand & Emir Kamenica & Jessica Pan, 2015. "Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 571-614.
    6. Edoardo Ciscato & Simon Weber, 2020. "The role of evolving marital preferences in growing income inequality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 307-347, January.
    7. Karin Hederos & Anders Stenberg, 2022. "Gender identity and relative income within households: evidence from Sweden," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(3), pages 744-772, July.
    8. Misty Heggeness & Marta Murray-Close, 2019. "Manning Up and Womaning Down: How Husbands and Wives Report Earnings When She Earns More," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 28, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    9. Gigi Foster & Leslie S. Stratton, 2019. "What women want (their men to do): Housework and Satisfaction in Australian Households," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 23-47, July.
    10. Maurizio Mazzocco & Claudia Ruiz & Shintaro Yamaguchi, 2014. "Labor Supply and Household Dynamics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 354-359, May.
    11. Olle Folke & Johanna Rickne, 2020. "All the Single Ladies: Job Promotions and the Durability of Marriage," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 260-287, January.
    12. Douglas L. Miller & Na’ama Shenhav & Michel Grosz, 2023. "Selection into Identification in Fixed Effects Models, with Application to Head Start," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(5), pages 1523-1566.
    13. Natalia Zinovyeva & Maryna Tverdostup, 2021. "Gender Identity, Coworking Spouses, and Relative Income within Households," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 258-284, October.
    14. Ong, David & Yang, Yu (Alan) & Zhang, Junsen, 2020. "Hard to get: The scarcity of women and the competition for high-income men in urban China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Chris Sampson’s journal round-up for 23rd November 2020
      by Chris Sampson in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2020-11-23 12:00:14

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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Graeber & Alexander S. Kritikos & Johannes Seebauer, 2021. "COVID-19: a crisis of the female self-employed," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 1141-1187, October.
    2. Baktash, Mehrzad B. & Heywood, John S. & Jirjahn, Uwe, 2023. "Does Performance Pay Increase the Risk of Marital Instability?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1305, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Karin Hederos & Anders Stenberg, 2022. "Gender identity and relative income within households: evidence from Sweden," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(3), pages 744-772, July.
    4. Cassar, Alessandra & Zhang, Y. Jane, 2022. "The competitive woman: Evolutionary insights and cross-cultural evidence into finding the Femina Economica," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 447-471.
    5. Belinda Hewitt, 2021. "The Dynamics of Family Formation and Dissolution," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 54(4), pages 506-517, December.
    6. Zhang, Yinjunjie (Jacquelyn) & Breunig, Robert, 2021. "Gender Norms and Domestic Abuse: Evidence From Australia," IZA Discussion Papers 14225, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social Norms; Gender; Separation and Divorce; Cohabitation; Satisfaction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • 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

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