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Why do families actually pool their income? Evidence from Denmark

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  • Jens Bonke
  • Hans Uldall-Poulsen

Abstract

This paper analyzes income-pooling by using a unique Danish data set that includes questions on income pooling among 1,696 couples. The analyses show that most Danish households use some kind of income pooling and that the proportion of income pooled varies considerably according to individual characteristics (age, education, occupation, past partners, upbringing) and household characteristics (household income, duration of marriage, location of residence and the existence of public goods, including children). However, when all variables are evaluated in a common model, the duration of marriage and the existence of children predominantly affect the likelihood of income pooling. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

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  • Jens Bonke & Hans Uldall-Poulsen, 2007. "Why do families actually pool their income? Evidence from Denmark," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 113-128, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:5:y:2007:i:2:p:113-128
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-007-9010-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Frick, Joachim R. & Grabka, Markus M. & Groh-Samberg, Olaf, 2012. "Dealing With Incomplete Household Panel Data in Inequality Research," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 41(1), pages 89-123.
    2. Laura Romeu Gordo & Andreas Motel-Klingebiel & Susanne Wurm, 2009. "SOEP as a Source for Research on Ageing – Issues, Measures and Possibilities for Improvement," RatSWD Working Papers 83, German Data Forum (RatSWD).
    3. Jens Bonke & Martin Browning, 2009. "Pooling of Income and Sharing of Consumption within Households," CAM Working Papers 2009-09, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics.
    4. Kulic, Nevena, 2013. "The type and duration of family unions and income sharing: The implications for women's economic well-being," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 7-15.
    5. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Bonke, Jens & Grossbard, Shoshana, 2010. "Income Pooling and Household Division of Labor: Evidence from Danish Couples," IZA Discussion Papers 5418, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Donni, Olivier, 2014. "Over-investment in marriage-specific capital," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 34-43.
    7. Popova, Daria & Avram, Silvia, 2020. "Do welfare state taxes and transfers reduce gender income inequality? Evidence from eight European countries," EUROMOD Working Papers EM9/20, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    8. Miriam Beblo & Denis Beninger, 2012. "Do husbands and wives pool their incomes? Experimental evidence," Working Papers of BETA 2012-10, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    9. María Navarro & Wiemer Salverda, 2019. "Earner Position and Job and Life Satisfaction: Do Contributions to the Household Income have the Same Effect by Gender and Occupations?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(7), pages 2227-2250, October.
    10. Jens Bonke & Martin Browning, 2009. "The distribution of financial well-being and income within the household," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 31-42, March.
    11. Donni, Olivier & Molina, José Alberto, 2018. "Household Collective Models: Three Decades of Theoretical Contributions and Empirical Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 11915, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Aline Bütikofer & Michael Gerfin, 2017. "The economies of scale of living together and how they are shared: estimates based on a collective household model," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 433-453, June.
    13. Martin Beznoska, 2024. "Testing the Income Pooling Hypothesis and its Link to the Taxation of Couple Households: Evidence from Demand System Estimation for Germany," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 687-719, September.
    14. Nevena, Kulic & Giulia, Dotti Sani, 2015. "Intra-household sharing of financial resources: A non-technical review of the research field and its historical development," MPRA Paper 68420, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Beznoska, Martin, 2019. "Do couples pool their income? Evidence from demand system estimation for Germany," Discussion Papers 2019/3, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    16. Bonke, Jens, 2008. "Income distribution and financial satisfaction between spouses in Europe," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2291-2303, December.
    17. Miriam Beblo & Denis Beninger, 2017. "Do husbands and wives pool their incomes? A couple experiment," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 779-805, September.
    18. Beznoska, Martin, 2019. "Do Couples Pool Their Income?," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203490, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. M. Lee Badgett & Gary Gates & Natalya Maisel, 2008. "Registered domestic partnerships among gay men and lesbians: the role of economic factors," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 327-346, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household production and intra-household allocation; Personal income; wealth and their distributions; Methodology for collecting; estimating; and organizing microeconomic data; D13; D31; C81;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access

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