Abstract
This article presents a simple conceptual framework integrating three couple-related outcomes analyzed in this volume: wage differentials in earnings related to couple formation, household formation (including cohabitation and registration as Registered Domestic Partnership), and intra-household allocation of income. It also discusses some of the articles’ main findings.
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Notes
For simplicity we are ignoring a third way of being in-couple: partnership without co-residence. BGM consider this third form of partnership.
One possible reason for the asymmetry is that wage consequences of coupling are more quantifiable than consequences in the area of individual consumption.
The terms ‘principal household worker’ and ‘principal earner’ were first used in Bonke and Grossbard (2008).
We thank Christopher Jepsen for calculating Census statistics and Gary Gates for providing further analysis of the Tobacco Survey data.
For simplicity, we choose 2% because it is in kee** with several studies, including the National Survey of Family Growth and the California Health Interview Survey. The Census does not include questions about sexual orientation.
This is likely to be an underestimate of the true cohabitation rate among heterosexuals.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Jens Bonke, Kitt Carpenter, Gary Gates, John Graham, and Howard Yourow for helpful comments.
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Grossbard, S., Jepsen, L.K. The economics of gay and lesbian couples: Introduction to a special issue on gay and lesbian households. Rev Econ Household 6, 311–325 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-008-9043-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-008-9043-4