Home Production and Retirement in Couples: A Panel Data Analysis

Abstract

We analyse the effects of retirement of one partner on home production by both partners in a couple. Using longitudinal data from Germany on couples, we control for fixed household specific effects to address the concern that retirement decisions are correlated with unobserved characteristics that also affect home production. For males and females, we find that own retirement significantly increases the amounts of home production. There are negative cross-effects of retirement on home production done by the partner. The fall in household income at retirement of one of the partners is largely compensated by an increase in total household production.

Keywords: time allocation, home production, retirement, couples

JEL Classification: J22, J29, J14