The Impact of a Permanent Income Shock on the Situation of Women in the Household: the case of a pension reform in Argentina

Matilde Machado (), Dolores de la Mata and Inés Berniell

No 10256, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Transfers to women may affect their bargaining power within the household and consequently their well-being. We analyze the effects of a pension reform in Argentina that resulted in an unexpected and substantial increase in permanent income for around 1.8 million senior women (women 60 years and over), on outcomes arguably related to women?s bargaining power within the household. Our results imply that a 10 percentage-point increase in senior women?s income share within the couple leads to a statistically significant decrease of 10% in the probability that they are the only person in charge of household chores and to a significant increase of 11% in their husbands? participation in household chores. Moreover, this large income shock significantly increased the probability of divorce/separation among senior women by 19%. Our results show that (permanent) transfers to senior women can have substantial effects on their situation in the household.

Keywords: Intra-household bargaining power; Marital disruption; Divorce; Non-contributory pensions; Pensions; Public transfers; Household chores; Collective models; Senior women; Permanent income shock (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H55 J12 J16 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Impact of a Permanent Income Shock on the Situation of Women in the Household: The Case of a Pension Reform in Argentina (2020)
Working Paper: The Impact of a Permanent Income Shock on the Situation of Women in the Household: the case of a pension reform in Argentina (2017)
Working Paper: The impact of a permanent Income shock on the situation of women in the household: the case of a pension reform in Argentina (2013)
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