A Public Good Version of the Collective Household Model: An Empirical Approach with an Application to British Household Data

40 Pages Posted: 21 Jan 2008

See all articles by Chris van Klaveren

Chris van Klaveren

University of Amsterdam - Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB)

B.M.S. van Praag

University of Amsterdam - Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Tinbergen Institute in Amsterdam; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Henriette Maassen van den Brink

University of Amsterdam

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 2008

Abstract

In this paper we consider an empirical collective household model of time allocation for two-earner households. The novelty of this paper is that we estimate a version of the collective household model, where the internally produced goods and the externally purchased goods are assumed to be public. The empirical results suggest that: (1) Preferences of men and women differ; (2) Although there are significant individual variations, on average the utility functions of men and women are equally weighted in the household utility function; (3) Differences in the ratio of the partners' hourly wages are explanatory for how individual utilities are weighted in the household utility function. (4) The female's preference for household production is influenced by family size, but this does not hold for the male; (5) Both the male and the female have a backward-bending labor supply curve; (6) Labor-supply curves are forward-bending with respect to the partner's wage rate; (7) Our model rejects the unitary Slutsky symmetry condition.

Keywords: collective household models, household behavior, labor supply, intra-household, time allocation

JEL Classification: D12, D13, J22

Suggested Citation

Klaveren, Chris van and van Praag, Bernard and Maassen van den Brink, Henriette, A Public Good Version of the Collective Household Model: An Empirical Approach with an Application to British Household Data (January 2008). CESifo Working Paper No. 2190, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1085981 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1085981

Chris van Klaveren (Contact Author)

University of Amsterdam - Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) ( email )

Roetersstraat 11
Amsterdam, 1018 WB
Netherlands

Bernard Van Praag

University of Amsterdam - Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) ( email )

Roetersstraat 11
Amsterdam, 1018 WB
Netherlands
31 20 5256018 (Phone)
31 20 5256013 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Tinbergen Institute in Amsterdam

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CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

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Germany

Henriette Maassen van den Brink

University of Amsterdam ( email )

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Amsterdam, 1018 WB
Netherlands
+31 020 525 4311/4288 (Phone)

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