The Evolution of the Male-Breadwinner Norm in Brazil

Sinara Anastacio (), Thais Lima () and Kenia de Souza ()

No 2026_32, Working Papers, Department of Economics from University of São Paulo (FEA-USP)

Abstract: Despite advances in women’s education and labor-market access, a growing liter-ature shows gender norms shaping household behavior. This paper investigates the evolution of Brazil’s male-breadwinner norm by applying bunching methods to quar-terly National Household Sample Survey microdata spanning Q1 2012 to Q1 2025. We first estimate female labor supply elasticities using the Heckman–MaCurdy and Blun-dell–Duncan–Meghir frameworks, and then use the elasticities to translate observed bunching in wives’ income shares at the 50 percent threshold into an implicit “tax†on women’s earnings. Our results document a marked strengthening of this implicit tax: from 18–25 percent during 2012–2015 to a sustained 30–35 percent after 2016, peaking above 40 percent at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Counterfactual re-matching of men and women across households—holding age, education, region, and family size constant—yields a positive but flat implicit tax over the same period, indicating that evolving intra-household dynamics and gendered norms, rather than assortative mating alone, drive the rising penalty on women’s earnings. We further show that education modestly reduces penalties but does not eliminate them, and that women with greater economic autonomy (older or formally designated household heads) face even higher implicit taxes.

Keywords: female earnings; bunching; gender norms; male-breadwinner norm; Brazil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 J16 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09-23
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