The effect of spouses' relative education on household time allocation

Elisa Taveras

Southern Economic Journal, 2023, vol. 89, issue 3, 788-829

Abstract: Does spouses' relative education explain their household's distribution of labor? This paper analyzes the effect of spouses' education on time allocated to housework and paid work. To address endogeneity concerns, I exploit changes in spouses' relative education due to remarriage to identify its effects on their time allocation. I find that when a husband marries a wife with a higher relative education than their previous spouse, his share of time on housework increases while his share of time on paid work decreases. In contrast, I find nonsignificant results when a wife remarries a more educated husband than her previous one. I also find that changes in the spouse's education reduce the probability of a spouse staying at home. These findings show that relative human capital plays a role in household labor distribution and motivates a more gender‐neutral division of labor within households due to a more evenly distributed time allocation.

Date: 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12609

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:soecon:v:89:y:2023:i:3:p:788-829

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