Beyond Vows: Family Structure and Consumption Inequality

Zainab Iftikhar (), Theresa Linhard () and Hanna Schwank ()

CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series from University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany

Abstract: This paper studies how family structure shapes consumption inequality and poverty in the USA. Using PSID data and a collective household model, we estimate sharing rules for married and cohabitating couples and recover individual-level consumption. In the full sample, cohabitating couples appear more egalitarian on average, with women receiving a share of household resources 9% higher than married women. These differences reflect systematic differences in characteristics across union types and largely disappear when comparing otherwise similar couples. Half of the economy-wide consumption inequality is explained by inequality between and within married households. 7% comes from cohabitation, 23% from between singles while the rest is explained by inequality between these three groups. Quantitatively, distinguishing cohabitation increases the role of between-group inequality and changes the assessment of poverty.

Keywords: consumption inequality; marriage; cohabitation; sharing rule; bargaining (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D13 D31 J12 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51
Date: 2026-05
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_750

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