Beyond Vows: Family Structure and Consumption Inequality

Zainab Iftikhar, Theresa Linhard and Hanna Schwank

No 21481, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

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.

JEL-codes: D12 D13 D31 J12 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05
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