Inferring Inequality With Home Production

S-Tier
Journal: Econometrica
Year: 2021
Volume: 89
Issue: 5
Pages: 2517-2556

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

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

Abstract

We revisit the causes, welfare consequences, and policy implications of the dispersion in households' labor market outcomes using a model with uninsurable risk, incomplete asset markets, and home production. Allowing households to be heterogeneous in both their disutility of home work and their home production efficiency, we find that home production amplifies welfare‐based differences, meaning that inequality in standards of living is larger than we thought. We infer significant home production efficiency differences across households because hours working at home do not covary with consumption and wages in the cross section of households. Heterogeneity in home production efficiency is essential for inequality, as home production would not amplify inequality if differences at home only reflected heterogeneity in disutility of work.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:emetrp:v:89:y:2021:i:5:p:2517-2556
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25