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Is There a Male Breadwinner Norm? The Hazards of Inferring Preferences from Marriage Market Outcomes

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  • Ariel J. Binder
  • David Lam

Abstract

Building on standard marital matching models, we show that a variety of underlying social preferences about a given trait all generate positive assortative matching on that trait, and hence the same distribution of spousal trait differences in equilibrium. Applying this result to U.S. Census and administrative earnings data, we find that simple models of assortative matching can very closely replicate the observed distribution of spousal earnings differences, in which very few wives out-earn their husbands. We conclude that the distribution of spousal earnings differences in the U.S. provides little information about the existence and implications of a male breadwinner norm.

Suggested Citation

  • Ariel J. Binder & David Lam, 2018. "Is There a Male Breadwinner Norm? The Hazards of Inferring Preferences from Marriage Market Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 24907, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24907
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    1. Kauany de Souza & Fabiana Rocha & Pedro Forquesato, 2023. "The male breadwinner norm in Brazil," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(4), pages 1759-1770.
    2. Hanna Virtanen & Mikko Silliman & Tiina Kuuppelomäki & Kristiina Huttunen, "undated". "Education, Gender, and Family Formation," Working Papers 340, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    3. Estefanía Galván, 2022. "Gender Identity and Quality of Employment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(354), pages 409-436, April.
    4. Maximilian Sprengholz & Anna Wieber & Elke Holst, 2019. "Gender Identity and Wives’ Labor Market Outcomes in West and East Germany between 1984 and 2016," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1030, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    5. Gigi Foster & Leslie S. Stratton, 2021. "Does female breadwinning make partnerships less healthy or less stable?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 63-96, January.
    6. Hermle, Johannes & Herold, Elena & Hildebrand, Nikolaus, 2024. "Preferences over Relative Income within the Household," IZA Discussion Papers 16803, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Estefanía Galván & Cecilia García-Peñalosa, 2021. "Interactions amongst gender norms: Evidence from US couples," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 21-15, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    8. Estefanía Galván & Cecilia García-Peñalosa, 2024. "Interactions amongst gender norms: Evidence from US couples," Working Papers hal-04696953, HAL.
    9. Karin Hederos & Anders Stenberg, 2022. "Gender identity and relative income within households: evidence from Sweden," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(3), pages 744-772, July.
    10. Daniel Kuehnle & Michael Oberfichtner & Kerstin Ostermann, 2021. "Revisiting gender identity and relative income within households: A cautionary tale on the potential pitfalls of density estimators," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(7), pages 1065-1073, November.
    11. Anja Roth & Michaela Slotwinski, 2018. "Gender Norms and Income Misreporting within Households," CESifo Working Paper Series 7298, CESifo.
    12. Mook, Anne & Dwivedi, Puneet, 2022. "Exploring links between education, forest management intentions, and economic outcomes in light of gender differences in the United States," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    13. Misty Heggeness & Marta Murray-Close, 2019. "Manning Up and Womaning Down: How Husbands and Wives Report Earnings When She Earns More," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 28, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    14. Wu, Xuepin & Ma, Yongjun, 2023. "Research on the comparison effect of urban residents' consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    15. Andrea Salazar-Díaz, 2022. "Ingreso relativo, identidad de género y brecha en el trabajo doméstico no remunerado: Evidencia para Colombia," Borradores de Economia 1191, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    16. Kazuyasu Sakamoto & Yoko Morita, 2024. "Gender identity and market and non-market work of married women: evidence from Japan," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 511-533, June.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • 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

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