Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households *
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Longitudinal cohort and cross-sectional econometric analysis (graded by design analogy for non-clinical scholarship)
OpenAlex W2160434973 · doi:10.1093/qje/qjv001
What was done
The authors analyzed the causes and consequences of relative income within households using observational data. They examined the distribution of the wife's share of spousal income, marriage formation rates, female labor force participation, wives' actual versus potential earnings, marital satisfaction, divorce risk, and division of household chores, evaluating these outcomes both cross-sectionally and longitudinally within couples.
What was found
The abstract reports directional relationships without providing numerical point estimates or confidence intervals. The distribution of the wife's share of household income drops sharply above 0.5 (where the wife earns more than the husband). When a randomly chosen woman is more likely to out-earn a randomly chosen man in a marriage market, marriage rates decline. When a wife's potential income exceeds her husband's, she is less likely to work and earns below her potential if employed. In couples where the wife out-earns the husband, the wife spends more time on household chores, couples report lower marital satisfaction, and divorce likelihood is higher.
Why it matters
This paper demonstrates how traditional gender identity norms regarding relative earnings distort marital formation, domestic labor distribution, female workforce participation, and marital stability.
Limits
The abstract does not state the sample size, data sources, time period, or numerical effect sizes. The study is observational, subject to potential unmeasured confounding, and relies on modeled potential income estimates rather than experimental intervention.
Cited by
- context In cities where women earn as much on average as men, twice as many partnered couples feature a male partner who earns more than the female partner.