It's complicated: A Non-parametric Test of Preference Stability between Singles and Couples

Stefan Hubner

Papers from arXiv.org

Abstract: This paper develops a method to use singles' data in a non-parametric revealed preference setting of collective household choice. We use it to test the controversial assumption of preference stability between singles and couples, without data on intra-household allocation or marital transitions. We show that, under the preference-stability hypothesis, consumption choices from an endogenously matched population admit a conditional random-utility representation over counterfactual pairings of couples and singles. Preference stability is testable as a feasibility restriction on the observed marginal choice distributions. We reject the hypothesis using consumption data from the Dutch LISS, the Russian RLMS, and the Spanish ECPF panels.

Date: 2026-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-upt
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.04771 Latest version (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:arx:papers:2605.04771

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Papers from arXiv.org
Bibliographic data for series maintained by arXiv administrators ().