Behind the Curtain: The Within-Household Sharing of Income

The distribution of personal income in a society depends strongly on the within-household distribution of income. Nevertheless, little is known about this phenomenon. I analyze the sharing of income among household partners from a welfare economic perspective. Measures of financial satisfaction for both household partners are used to gain information about the within-household distribution of income-induced well-being. A model of satisfaction differences between household partners is developed and estimated using 10 waves (1999 to 2008) of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study. Differences in financial satisfaction within couples are generally small. However, satisfaction is not a direct measure of welfare. Forthis reason, covariates are included to control for the partners' different characteristics, influencing the expression of satisfaction. Using panel data allows us to account for unobserved heterogeneity at the household level, which is one major advancement of this analysis. The results show that the partners' relative earned income has a substantial effect on the distribution of income-induced well-being, whereas the relative amount of transfer income does not.income pooling, personal income, welfare, family, subjective well-being

Analyse von Einkommensverteilungen: Ansätze, Methoden und Empirie

Das vorliegende Lehrbuch behandelt die Analyse der personellen Einkommensverteilung aus wohlfahrtsökonomischer Perspektive. Es stellt einerseits wichtige Ungleichheitsmaße und Methoden der graphischen Darstellungen vor, die zur Charakterisierung der personellen Einkommensverteilung in Wissenschaft und Politik verwendet werden. Dabei werden systematisch die Eigenschaften und auch Zusammenhänge der verschiedenen Maße thematisiert. Andererseits werden Konzepte und Methoden der Erhebung von Einkommen vorgestellt, und vor dem Hintergrund diskutiert, aus der Verteilung der personellen Einkommen möglichst valide Aussagen über die Verteilung der individuellen Wohlfahrt in einer Gesellschaft abzuleiten. Das Lehrbuch bietet einen fundierten und kritischen Zugang zur Einkommensverteilungsanalyse, sowohl für Studierende der Sozialwissenschaften, als auch für Interessierte und Engagierte in Beratung und Politik

Income Sharing within Households: Evidence from Data on Financial Satisfaction

This paper contributes to the understanding of gender aspects in the intra-household sharing of income. I estimate models of differences in financial satisfaction between household partners using panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, which allows one to account for household-level fixed effects. The paper adds to the literature a further convincing rejection of the equal sharing hypothesis. What is more and novel, the results imply that unequal income sharing is asymmetric and triggered by the relative employment statuses of the partners: in male breadwinner households, the women’s well-being is affected by the distribution factor; in double full-time couples, it is the man’s well-being

Income Sharing within Households: Evidence from Data on Financial Satisfaction

This paper contributes to the understanding of gender aspects in the intra-household sharing of income. I estimate models of differences in financial satisfaction between household partners using panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, which allows one to account for household-level fixed effects. The paper adds to the literature a further convincing rejection of the equal sharing hypothesis. What is more and novel, the results simply that unequal income sharing is asymmetric and triggered by the relative employment statuses of the partners: in male breadwinner households, the women’s well-being is affected by the distribution factor; in double full-time couples, it is the man’s well-being