Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
This article investigates differences in husbands' and wives' experiences of financial hardships. It develops and estimates a structural collective household model of expenditures on individual-specific necessities and hardship reporting where each partner has distinct preferences and the household makes Pareto efficient decisions. Using data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey with unique questions on individual financial hardships, we examine whether differences in preferences, bargaining power, or other characteristics within households affect the distribution of hardships. Wives in our data report more financial hardships than husbands. Estimates from our structural model indicate that wives have weaker preferences than husbands for expenditures on necessary goods for themselves, but there is no evidence of differences in bargaining power. Estimates further indicate that hardships increase with the number of children and spouses' disability status and decrease with spouses’ ages and subjective financial capabilities.