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Whose money, whose time? A nonparametric approach to modeling time spent on housework in the United States

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  • Sanjiv Gupta
  • Michael Ash

Abstract

This paper argues that earlier quantitative research on the relationship between heterosexual partners' earnings and time spent on housework has two basic flaws: First, it has focused on the effects of women's shares of couples' total earnings on housework, not considering the simpler possibility of an association between women's absolute earnings and housework. Second, it tends to draw uniform inferences across the range of data, including regions where the data are sparse. This paper adopts a flexible, nonparametric approach to examine this relationship within a US context, while not imposing the polynomial specifications on data that characterize the two dominant models. The results provide support for an alternative model that emphasizes the importance of partners' own earnings for their housework, especially in the case of women. Women's earnings are negatively associated with their housework hours, independent of their partners' earnings and their shares of couples' total earnings.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanjiv Gupta & Michael Ash, 2008. "Whose money, whose time? A nonparametric approach to modeling time spent on housework in the United States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 93-120.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:14:y:2008:i:1:p:93-120
    DOI: 10.1080/13545700701716664
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Nonparametric regression; household economics; housework; JEL Codes: J1; J16; J22;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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