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The Impact Of Female Work On Family Income Distribution In The United States: Black‐White Differentials

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  • Evelyn Lehrer
  • Marc Nerlove

Abstract

Using data from the 1973 National Survey of Family Growth, the present study analyzes, for blacks and whites separately, the impact of female market activity on the inequality of the income distribution among households. The family life cycle is divided into three stages, according to the presence and age of children: (1) the interval between marriage and the birth of the first child, (2) the child‐rearing interval, and (3) a final period which begins when all the children have reached school age. Using the coefficient of variation as an indicator of inequality, the empirical results show that in period 1, the contribution of white working wives has a large equalizing impact, while that of their black counterparts results in a slight increase in dispersion. In the child‐rearing and post child‐rearing stages, the labor supply of mothers decreases family income inequality by a small amount for both black and white households. A decomposition of the squared coefficient of variation of family income is presented to aid in the interpretation of these findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Evelyn Lehrer & Marc Nerlove, 1981. "The Impact Of Female Work On Family Income Distribution In The United States: Black‐White Differentials," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 27(4), pages 423-431, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:27:y:1981:i:4:p:423-431
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4991.1981.tb00246.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Björklund, Anders & Palme, Mårten, 1997. "Income Redistribution within the Life Cycle versus between Individuals: Empirical Evidence Using Swedish Panel Data," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 197, Stockholm School of Economics.
    2. Breunig, Robert, 2001. "An almost unbiased estimator of the coefficient of variation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 15-19, January.
    3. Harry Oshima & Andrew Mason, 1999. "Population and Inequality in East Asia," Working Papers 199903, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    4. Maria Cancian & Sheldon Danziger & Peter Gotlschalk, 1991. "The Changing Contributions of Men and Women to the Level and Distribution of Family Income, 1968-1988," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_62, Levy Economics Institute.

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