Division of Household Labor and Cross-Country Differences in Household Formation Rates.

Working paper

This paper explains the existing cross-country differences in household formation rates in industrialized countries by highlighting how an individual's probability to form a household may be affected by social norms toward the household division of labor. Because social norms are to a large extent enforced through non-market interactions they are diffcult to isolate empirically. Two identification strategies are proposed. First, a diff-in-diff like approach is used for the identification of the effect of social norms net of other country-specific and time varying factors. A second identification strategy uses an individual's reported attitudes toward the household division of labor to allow for the identification of the effect of social norms net of individual preferences. Empirical results support the predictions of a household formation model where less egalitarian social norms decrease the supply of men in the household market by increasing a man's cost of providing household labor. Both men and women living in more egalitarian countries have, everything else equal, a higher probability of forming a household. Furthermore, consistent with the theory, individual attitudes run opposite to social norms for the case of women. Whereas ceteris paribus a more egalitarian woman has a lower probability of forming a household, a woman living in a more egalitarian country has, everything else equal, a higher probability of forming a household.

Authors: Sanz, A

• Publisher: Department of Economics (University of Oxford)
• Series: Discussion paper series
• Publication date: 2007-01-01
• Language: English