Marriage and Housework
60 Pages Posted: 20 Feb 2020
There are 2 versions of this paper
Marriage and Housework
Date Written: January 24, 2020
Abstract
This paper provides insights into the gains of forming a couple by estimating how much of the difference in housework between single and married individuals is causal and how much is due to selection. Permanent unobserved heterogeneity explains about half of the observed differences in housework documented in the cross-sectional data. Further ancillary evidence suggests that individuals with a higher preference for marriage also have more traditional views on the division of household labour. There remains a genuine half-an-hour increase per week in housework time for each partner, with women specializing in routine and men in non-routine housework tasks.
Keywords: Marriage, Time use, Home production
JEL Classification: D13, J12, J22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation