Income Pooling and Household Division of Labor: Evidence from Danish Couples

Abstract

If income pooling indicates primary earners' willingness to trade part of their income with spouses who earn less and work more in household production, then among specialized couples income pooling will be positively associated with the price of commercial domestic services, substitutes for household production. In line with our prediction, analyses of data from a unique Danish household survey show that complete income pooling is more frequent where commercial domestic services are more expensive.

Keywords: home production, income pooling, household finance, domestic services

JEL Classification: D13, D14, J12