EFFICIENCY VERSUS STEREOTYPES: AN EXPERIMENT IN DOMESTIC PRODUCTION

Hélène Couprie (), Elisabeth Cudeville and Catherine Sofer ()

No 2015-06, THEMA Working Papers from THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise

Abstract: Most household models assume that decisions taken inside the family are Pareto optimal. However, empirical studies cast doubts upon the efficiency assumption. The sharing of time among men and women between market work and household work is highly differentiated by gender. In this paper we examine whether couples deviate from efficiency in household production decisions, using an experimental design in which subjects are real couples. The aim of the experiment is to mimic the sharing of highly-gendered household tasks. We compare the sharing of gendered tasks to that of more neutral tasks. By measuring individual productivity in each task, we can see if couples tend to deviate from efficiency, and by how much in each case. As we show that they deviate more when sharing gendered tasks, we also explore why, looking at different possible explanations, and we find evidence of the impact of stereotypes on inefficiencies.

Keywords: Stereotypes; social norms; household production; time allocation; experiment; production function; household behavior; intra-household decision-making. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 C92 D13 J16 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-hme
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Efficiency versus Stereotypes: an Experiment in Domestic Production (2015)
Working Paper: Efficiency versus Stereotypes: an Experiment in Domestic Production (2015)
Working Paper: Efficiency versus Stereotypes: an Experiment in Domestic Production (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ema:worpap:2015-06

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