Is It Money or Brains? The Determinants of Intra-Family Decision Power

37 Pages Posted: 23 Jun 2012

See all articles by Graziella Bertocchi

Graziella Bertocchi

Università di Modena; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Marianna Brunetti

Dept. Economics and Finance, University of Rome Tor Vergata; CEFIN

Costanza Torricelli

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - Department of Economics; Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE) - Center for Research in Banking and Finance (CEFIN); Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies (CeRP)

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Abstract

We empirically study the determinants of intra-household decision power with respect to economic and financial choices using a suitable direct measure provided in the 1989-2010 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth. Focusing on a sample of couples, we evaluate the effect of each spouse's characteristics, household characteristics, and background variables. We find that the probability that the wife is in charge is affected by household characteristics such as family size and total income and wealth, but more importantly that it increases with the difference between hers and her husband's characteristics in terms of age, education, and income. The main conclusion is that decision-making power over family economics is not only determined by strictly economic differences, as suggested by previous studies, but also by differences in human capital and experience. Finally, exploiting the time dimension of our dataset, we show that this pattern is increasing over time.

Keywords: family economics, intra-household decision power, gender differences

JEL Classification: J12, D13, E21, G11

Suggested Citation

Bertocchi, Graziella and Brunetti, Marianna and Torricelli, Costanza, Is It Money or Brains? The Determinants of Intra-Family Decision Power. IZA Discussion Paper No. 6648, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2089697 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2089697

Graziella Bertocchi (Contact Author)

Università di Modena; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF)

Rome, 00187
Italy

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7 / 9
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Marianna Brunetti

Dept. Economics and Finance, University of Rome Tor Vergata ( email )

Via Columbia, 2
Rome, Lazio 00133
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://economia.uniroma2.it/en/def/faculty/178/brunetti-marianna

CEFIN ( email )

via Berengario 51
Modena, modena I-41100
Italy

Costanza Torricelli

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - Department of Economics ( email )

Viale Berengario 51
41100 Modena, Modena 41100
Italy
+390592056733 (Phone)
+390592056937 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.economia.unimore.it/torricelli_costanza/index.htm

Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE) - Center for Research in Banking and Finance (CEFIN) ( email )

via Berengario 51
Modena, modena I-41100
Italy

Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies (CeRP) ( email )

Via Real Collegio, 30
Moncalieri, Turin 10024
Italy

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