Manning Up and Womaning Down: How Husbands and Wives Report Earnings When She Earns More

Misty Heggeness () and Marta Murray-Close

No 28, Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Abstract: To infer social preferences regarding the relative earnings of spouses, we use measurement error in the earnings reported for married couples in the Current Population Survey. We compare the earnings reported for husbands and wives in the survey with their “true” earnings as reported by their employers to tax authorities. Compared with couples where the wife earns just less than the husband, those where she earns just more are 15.9 percentage points more likely to under-report her relative earnings. This pattern reflects the reporting behavior of both husbands and wives and is consistent with a norm that husbands out-earn their wives.

Keywords: Gender; Earnings; Spousal earnings; Social norms; Data quality; Survey misreporting; Administrative records (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 J12 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28
Date: 2019-12-10
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedmoi:87577

DOI: 10.21034/iwp.28

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