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Do husbands and wives pool their incomes? Experimental evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Miriam Beblo
  • Denis Beninger
Abstract
In this paper, we propose a direct test of income pooling within couples, which yields new insight into intra-household bargaining behaviour. For this purpose, we performed a five-round experiment with 95 real, established couples in Germany. In each round, the couples received the same amount of money, though with differing allocations between the spouses, to make consumption choices for private goods. We observed the choices to depend strongly on the spouses’ relative resources for about half the sample and interpret this as a rejection of the income pooling hypothesis. Moreover, non-pooling was positively related with the homogeneity of the spouses’ characteristics (in terms of age, education, working hours) and negatively with their average education and income levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Miriam Beblo & Denis Beninger, 2012. "Do husbands and wives pool their incomes? Experimental evidence," Working Papers of BETA 2012-10, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2012-10
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. François Cochard & Hélène Couprie & Astrid Hopfensitz, 2018. "What if women earned more than their spouses? An experimental investigation of work-division in couples," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 21(1), pages 50-71, March.
    2. Hélène Couprie & Miriam Beblo & Denis Beninger & François Cochard & Astrid Hopfensitz, 2012. "Equality-Efficiency Trade-off within French and German Couples – A Comparative Experimental Study," THEMA Working Papers 2012-44, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    3. Beblo, Miriam & Beninger, Denis, 2014. "Experimental Evidence on Bargaining Power Within Couples," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100628, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Alistair Munro, 2018. "Intra†Household Experiments: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 134-175, February.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C71 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Cooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation

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