To my wife, with love! Does within-household specialisation explain husband's better job-education-match?
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Author
Date
2004-11Type
- Working Paper
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
Married male workers are found to have a lower incidence of overeducation. A theoretical explanation for this phenomenon is lacking. We test in our study whether the traditional specialisation of spouses’ time between home and market production tends to improve a husband’s jobeducation-match (JEM). We test this hypothesis first by drawing on the method used in the marriage wage premia literature based mainly on the model of Becker (1985). In addition, we perform a new test following the theory of Fran¸cois (1998), which requires less restrictive assumptions. Overall, our results show that within-household specialisation (WHS) explains a substantial part of the superior JEM of husbands, regardless of whether a wife’s labour market participation (experience) or both spouses housework hours are used to measure specialisation. The results and in particular the independent and significant impact of women’s housework hours on their husbands’ JEM, however, speak clearly in favour of Fran¸cois’ theory and against the explanation of Becker. Testing for an endogeneity bias due to a possible sorting process of more able husbands with “traditional” spouses or a measurement error of the JEM does not alter these conclusions. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-004871480Publication status
publishedJournal / series
KOF Working PapersVolume
Publisher
KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH ZurichSubject
Labour productivity; Human capital; PRIVATHAUSHALTE (HAUSWIRTSCHAFT); Household models; PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS (VOCATIONAL EDUCATION); PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS (HOME ECONOMICS); Overeducation; ARBEITSPRODUKTIVITÄT; BERUFLICHE QUALIFIKATIONEN (BERUFSAUSBILDUNG); LABOUR PRODUCTIVITYOrganisational unit
02525 - KOF Konjunkturforschungsstelle / KOF Swiss Economic Institute
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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