Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35613 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3773
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We exploit time use data from Denmark and the United States to examine the impact institutions and social norms have on individuals' bargaining power within a household, hypothesizing that the more generous social welfare system and more egalitarian social norms in Denmark will mitigate the impact standard economic power measures have upon couples' time use. Further we posit that leisure time will be more sensitive to power considerations than housework time which may be more influenced by preferences regarding household public goods, to gendered notions of time use, and to censoring. Our results are generally supportive of these hypotheses, with leisure time on non-work days in the US being particularly responsive to economic power. In addition, we find some evidence that institutions matter as women in the US who are more likely to receive welfare benefits enjoy more leisure time than would be suggested by their economic power alone.
Subjects: 
Time use
power
leisure
institutions
norms
JEL: 
J22
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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