Impact of the Intra-household Education Gap on Wives’ and Husbands’ Well-Being: Evidence from Cross-Country Microdata

Using original cross-sectional Internet survey data from 32 countries in six continents, we investigate the effect of intra-household education gap on the well-being of wives and husbands. According to the results, both wives and husbands with larger intra-household education gaps report a lower probability of life satisfaction. In particular, subjective well-being is worse for a wife or husband with longer years of schooling than their partner, compared to other groups (i.e., a couple with an equal level of education or wife or husband with a lower education level than her or his partner). The impact of intra-household education gap on well-being is greater for both wives and husbands in Asian and non-high-income countries, and only wives in Western and high-income countries. It is greater for the well-educated group than for the less-educated group for both wives and husbands. Individual income remains a satisfactory channel for both wives and husbands, while the impact of the family satisfaction channel is only confirmed for wives.