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Disagreement in Partners’ Reports of Financial Difficulty

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  • Robert Breunig
  • Deborah A. Cobb-Clark
  • Xiaodong Gong
  • Daniella Venn

Abstract

We use unique data in which both partners report about household finances to demonstrate that there is often disagreement about whether the household has experienced financial difficulty in the past year. Four alternative explanations for this disagreement are tested using the data. The results indicate that disagreement may be related to the severity of the underlying material hardship rather than to gender differences, information asymmetries, or individual (as opposed to household) views of financial difficulty. This implies that standard surveys which collect information about the household’s financial position from a representative individual may fail to completely characterize the nature of material hardship.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Breunig & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Xiaodong Gong & Daniella Venn, 2005. "Disagreement in Partners’ Reports of Financial Difficulty," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2005-453, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2005-453
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    File URL: https://www.cbe.anu.edu.au/researchpapers/econ/wp453.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Susan E. Mayer & Christopher Jencks, 1989. "Poverty and the Distribution of Material Hardship," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 24(1), pages 88-114.
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    5. Vuong, Quang H, 1989. "Likelihood Ratio Tests for Model Selection and Non-nested Hypotheses," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 307-333, March.
    6. Zagorsky, Jay L., 2003. "Husbands' and wives' view of the family finances," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 127-146, May.
    7. Kurt Bauman, 1999. "Shifting family definitions: The effect of cohabitation and other nonfamily household relationships on measures of poverty," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 36(3), pages 315-325, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fenaba R. Addo & Xing Zhang, 2020. "Debt Concordance and Relationship Quality: A Couple-Level Analysis," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 405-423, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C42 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Survey Methods
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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