Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP9017 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details   |   Bibliographic Reference

Full Details

Title: Is it money or brains? The determinants of intra-family decision power

Author(s): Graziella Bertocchi, Marianna Brunetti and Costanza Torricelli

Publication Date: June 2012

Keyword(s): Family economics, gender differences and intra-household decision power

Programme Area(s): International Macroeconomics and Public Economics

Abstract: We empirically study the determinants of intra-household decision power with respect to economic and financial choices using a suitable direct measure provided in the 1989-2010 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth. Focusing on a sample of couples, we evaluate the effect of each spouse's characteristics, household characteristics, and background variables. We find that the probability that the wife is in charge is affected by household characteristics such as family size and total income and wealth, but more importantly that it increases with the difference between hers and her husband's characteristics in terms of age, education, and income. The main conclusion is that decision-making power over family economics is not only determined by strictly economic differences, as suggested by previous studies, but also by differences in human capital and experience. Finally, exploiting the time dimension of our dataset, we show that this pattern is increasing over time.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=9017

Bibliographic Reference

Bertocchi, G, Brunetti, M and Torricelli, C. 2012. 'Is it money or brains? The determinants of intra-family decision power'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=9017