Intra-household arrangements: How important are they in terms of male-female subjective well-being?

This paper aims to analyze the impact of different intra-household arrangements, defined in terms of income pooling and decision-making responsibilities, on individual subjective well-being in a number of European countries. Using the EU-SILC 2010 module on intra-household sharing of resources and self-assessed health, as a dimension of subjective well-being, we find that the relationship between self-reported health and family arrangements differs by gender and area of decision. The results provide interesting insights on the potential determinants of individual self-assessed health that go beyond the standard ones. In particular, we identify higher levels of males’ and females’ self-assessed health connected to them controlling or sharing financial decisions. Moreover, males’ self-assessed health is positively linked to female making domestic decisions, and negatively if decisions are of financial type; whereas females’ self-assessed health is positively associated to them taking domestic decisions only in households where incomes are not fully pooled. Thus, our findings might be of help for politicians to design the most effective policies intended to improve individual standards of living and to reduce social inequalities.