Earnings Risk in the Household: Evidence from Millions of US Tax Returns

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review: Insights
Year: 2020
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Pages: 237-54

Authors (2)

Seth Pruitt (Arizona State University) Nicholas Turner (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Using detailed Internal Revenue Service administrative data on millions of households, we find that households effectively insure against much of the risk facing primary earners. We show that households face less risk than males alone, and households face roughly half the countercyclical risk increase. As a result of these risk differences, household certainty equivalent earnings are 19 percent higher than for males alone, and household certainty equivalent earnings fall by about half as much during recessions. To facilitate related research, we make available the aggregated data used in our analysis.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aerins:v:2:y:2020:i:2:p:237-54
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29