Understanding the Marriage–Cohabitation Gap in Income Pooling: Evidence from 29 European Countries (original) (raw)

Income dynamics in couples and the dissolution of marriage and cohabitation

Demography, 2007

Several studies have shown that a wife’s strong (socio)economic position is associated with an increase in the risk of divorce. Less is known about such effects for cohabiting relationships. Using a unique and large-scale sample of administrative records from The Netherlands, we analyze the link between couples’ income dynamics and union dissolution for married and cohabiting unions over a 10-year period. We find negative effects of household income on separation and positive effects of the woman’s relative income, in line with earlier studies. The shape of the effect of the woman’s relative income, however, depends on the type of union. Movements away from income equality toward a maledominant pattern tend to increase the dissolution risk for cohabiting couples, whereas they reduce the dissolution risk for married couples. Movements away from income equality toward a female-dominant pattern (reverse specialization) increase the dissolution risks for both marriage and cohabitation. ...

Inequalities within Couples in Europe: Market Incomes and the Role of Taxes and Benefits

Eastern Economic Journal, 2011

Pooling of Wealth in Marriage: The Role of Premarital Cohabitation

European Journal of Population

Previous studies documented the existence of a ‘cohabitation–marriage gap’ in resource pooling among opposite-sex partners, with cohabiters being more likely to separate income and wealth than married individuals. Surprisingly, despite many non-marital cohabitations transform into marriages, we know little about income and wealth pooling of ‘spousal cohabiters’, i.e. spouses who transition to marriage after experiencing a period of non-marital cohabitation. The comparison between ‘spousal cohabiters’ and directly married spouses is particularly interesting because it offers a litmus test of theories of marriage in relation to how and why economic resources are differently distributed within married vs. cohabiting couples. This paper compares directly married couples and ‘spousal cohabiters’ in Italy, focusing on one aspect of resource pooling: the marital property regime, i.e. the choice made at the time of marriage between joint or separate ownership of wealth accumulated during ma...

Inequalities Within Couples: Market Incomes and the Role of Taxes and Benefits in Europe

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2007

In spite of there being few elements of tax or cash benefit systems in developed countries that are any longer explicitly gender-biased in a discriminatory sense, it is well recognised that they have significant gender effects. To the extent that women earn less than men on average under tax-benefit systems that are progressive, there is some redistribution from men to women overall. However, an aggregate perspective is insufficient for understanding how earning opportunities and public policies affect living arrangements at the family level in general and the circumstances of men and women in particular. Arguably, it is within the household that a gendered division of labour is most relevant. It is difficult to observe how income and other resources get allocated within households. We can, however, observe the incomes brought into the household and to what extent taxes and benefits mitigate (or indeed exacerbate) any inequality of income between men and women. We explore the effects of tax and benefit systems on differences in income and in incentives to earn income between men and women within couples in a selection of the member countries of the European Union (EU) using EUROMOD, the EU tax-benefit microsimulation model. This comparative perspective allows us to establish the relative effects of different policy regimes, given the underlying characteristics of each national population, using a consistent approach and set of incidence assumptions across countries.

Emerging trends in earnings structures of couples in Europe: Short Statistical Report No. 5

This programme is implemented by the European Commission. It was established to financially support the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in the employment, social affairs and equal opportunities area, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Europe 2020 Strategy goals in these fields. The seven-year Programme targets all stakeholders who can help shape the development of appropriate and effective employment and social legislation and policies, across the EU-27, EFTA-EEA and EU candidate and pre-candidate countries. For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/progress This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Is Marriage More Than Cohabitation? Well‐Being Differences in 30 European Countries

Journal of Marriage and Family, 2009

The study aims to assess, first, whether there is a gap in well‐being between unmarried cohabitants and the married, second, if selection factors can explain this so‐called cohabitation gap, and third, if the size of the cohabitation gap differs across countries and how this can be explained. We use pooled data from young adults (18–44) in 3 rounds of the European Social Survey (N ≅ 31, 500). Multilevel regression analyses show that there is a moderate cohabitation gap that can be partly explained with the selection factors material resources and religiosity. Country differences were clear and could partly be explained with the level of institutionalization: In countries where cohabitation is more accepted and more prevalent, the cohabitation gap is smaller.

Why do families actually pool their income? Evidence from Denmark

Review of Economics of the Household, 2007

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. Keywords Household production and intra-household allocation Á Personal income, wealth and their distributions Á Methodology for collecting, estimating, and organizing microeconomic data JEL Classifications D13 Á D31 Á C81 The established literature on household behavior often assumes that household members pool their resources. A large number of studies, however, show that a number of sharing factors-i.e. the factors that affect the intra-household distribution of income-have a significant impact on household consumption,

Income Pooling and Household Division of Labor: Evidence from Danish Couples

2011

If income pooling indicates primary earners' willingness to trade part of their income with spouses who earn less and work more in household production, then among specialized couples income pooling will be positively associated with the price of commercial domestic services, substitutes for household production. In line with our prediction, analyses of data from a unique Danish household survey show that complete income pooling is more frequent where commercial domestic services are more expensive.

Does marriage affect the organisation of income in dual-earner households?

2005

We examine the income organisation of cohabiting and married dual-income couples in Australia. This topic has gained significance as women increase their participation in the labour force, and increasingly generate money contributing to household income. This money may be kept separate, or be partly or totally combined with other household income. In light of the increase in cohabitation, researchers have proposed that financial arrangements may differ according to relationship type. Some researchers have found variation in income organisation between cohabiters and marrieds, and have attributed this to commitment differences between relationship types. Others have proposed that, in societies where cohabitation is not as institutionalised, income organisation is more likely to be separate for cohabiting than married couples. We model the effects of relationship type and of previous relationships on income organisation in dual-income relationships using data from a nationally-representative survey from Australia (Negotiating the Life Course). We also explore the effect of the ratio of incomes within the couple, education, presence of children, gender-role attitudes, hours worked and home ownership. Our findings support different income organisation by relationship type, which we attribute to the institution of marriage.

Income distribution and financial satisfaction between spouses in Europe

The Journal of Socio-Economics, 2008

The article analyses the distribution of income between spouses and the consequences for their financial satisfaction within different welfare regimes. We find that the financial satisfaction of husbands declines and that the financial satisfaction of wives increases the more a wife earns relative to her husband. However, the relationships are often of an inversed U-shaped form for both sexes, with men achieving the highest satisfaction at an earlier stage than women. Within the Scandinavian welfare state regime this optimal distribution is found closer to the actual income distribution than in the continental European and liberal regimes, and in the southern European regime the optimal distribution is far from being achieved.

Understanding the Marriage–Cohabitation Gap in Income Pooling: Evidence from 29 European Countries (original) (raw)

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