Cross‐National Differences in Income Pooling among Married and Cohabiting Couples

Bibliographic Data

ID18967481
AuthorsAnn Evans (0000-0003-2937-8106, The Australian National University Australia, corresponding author), Edith Gray (0000-0003-1203-8367, The Australian National University Australia)
Year2021
Volume83
Issue2
Pages534-550
Publication date2021-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Marriage and the Family (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-2445 • E-ISSN: 1741-3737
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jomf.12721
OpenAlexW3092167464
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited46

Objective To examine cross‐national differences in income pooling by relationship type. Background In most countries, there is a “cohabitation gap” with cohabiting couples less likely to pool their incomes and act as a single economic unit compared to married couples. There is very little cross‐national research comparing income management patterns of married and cohabiting couples. Despite large cross‐national variation in cohabitation prevalence, the limited research on income management finds surprisingly little variation in the “cohabitation gap.” Using a larger range of countries than used in previous studies, income management of married and cohabiting couples was compared to test whether the cohabitation gap can be explained by the cohabitation prevalence in a country, the degree to which cohabitation is related to economic disadvantage or to structural factors such as taxation. Method Multilevel multinomial regression is used to study income pooling across 32 countries from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme. Results The size of the cohabitation gap does vary across countries. In some countries, cohabiting and married couples act very similarly in terms of their income organization, whereas in others there is a large difference in the behavior of couples. There is little evidence that this is related to the prevalence of cohabitation; however, economic constraints, as well as taxation systems, are associated with the cross‐national variation in the cohabitation gap. Conclusion Differences in the cohabitation gap reflect the context and policies of the countries within which couples live rather than ideological expectations surrounding relationship choice.

Cohabitation · Context (archaeology) · Demographic economics · Disadvantage · Economics · Geography · Political science · Sociology · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving