The impact of intra-household income distribution on subjective well-being

Evidence from a regression discontinuity design

Abstract

Previous research examining the relationship between intra-household (intra-couple) income distribution and subjective well-being has analyzed associations rather than causal effects. In this study, our research question is: if the woman’s income in the household exceeds the man’s income, i.e., if the social norm of the man’s primary breadwinner role is violated, how does this affect the partners’ life satisfaction? The causal impact of the male income disadvantage (female income advantage) is estimated using a regression discontinuity design. We use the 2015 wave of the EU-SILC survey to which the Hungarian Central Statistical Office has linked the subjective well-being module of the Household Budget and Living Conditions Survey. Our sample consists of mixed-gender couple households in which both the woman and the man have income from employment. The results show that both men and women are significantly (by 0.6 points on average) less satisfied if the woman’s income in the household exceeds the man’s, which corresponds to a difference of 0.4 standard deviations.