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The impact of a permanent Income shock on the situation of women in the household: the case of a pension reform in Argentina

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  • Inés Berniell
  • Dolores de la Mata
  • Matilde P. Machado

Abstract

Transfers to women may affect their bargaining power within the household and consequently their well-being. We analyze the effects of the 2004/2005 pension reform in Argentina, that resulted in an unexpected and substantial increase in permanent income for around 1.8 million women, on outcomes arguably related to women’s bargaining power within the household. We estimate the effects of the reform in the probability of divorce/separation, the distribution of household chores, and the probability of women being the head of the household, using a Difference-in-Differences approach. Our results show that despite the low divorce probability among seniors, transfers to senior women have substantial effects on their situation in the household. More specifically, we find that the reform had statistically significant effects on the probability of divorce/separation increasing it by 1.8 − 2.7 percentage points implying an increase of around 18 − 19% on the divorce/separation rate of 60 − 65 year old women. Moreover, the probability of being the head of the household also increased by 2.8−3.3 percentage points representing an increase of 7−19% in the probability amongst women of 60 − 65 years of age. In the case of married women, the probability of being the head of the household increased by 1.3 − 1.5 percentage points, which represents an increase of 20 − 22%. Results show that the distribution of household chores within the couples was also affected by the reform. More precisely, the probability that the wife is the only person in charge of the housework decreased by 5 percentage points, an 11% decrease. The participation of husbands in housework, however, did not change significantly.

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  • Inés Berniell & Dolores de la Mata & Matilde P. Machado, 2013. "The impact of a permanent Income shock on the situation of women in the household: the case of a pension reform in Argentina," Documentos de Trabajo 11037, Universidad del Rosario.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000092:011037
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    2. Echeverría, Lucía, 2020. "Modelos colectivos de consumo y distribución intra-hogar. Teoría y aplicaciones," Nülan. Deposited Documents 3832, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    3. Max Groneck & Johanna Wallenius, 2021. "It Sucks to Be Single! Marital Status and Redistribution of Social Security [Female labor supply as insurance against idiosyncratic risk]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(633), pages 327-371.
    4. Cecilia Parada, 2023. "Cash Transfers and Intra-Household Decision-Making in Uruguay," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 757-775, September.
    5. Cecilia Parada, 2018. "Income cash transfers and intrahousehold decision making," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 18-17, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    6. Fernandes, Inês & Schmidt, Tobias, 2021. "Household bargaining, pension contributions and retirement expectations: Evidence from the German Panel on Household Finances," Discussion Papers 44/2021, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    7. Padilla-Romo, María & Peluffo, Cecilia & Viollaz, Mariana, 2022. "Parents' Effective Time Endowment and Divorce: Evidence from Extended School Days," IZA Discussion Papers 15304, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intra-household bargaining power; marital disruption; divorce; non-contributorypensions; pensions; public transfers; intra-household decision allocation; household chores; collectivemodels; senior women;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

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