
Abstract We develop a new equilibrium model in which households’ labour supply choices form the link between sorting on the marriage market and sorting on the labour market. We first show that in theory, the nature of home production—whether partners’ hours are complements or substitutes—shapes equilibrium labour supply as well as marriage and labour market sorting. We then estimate our model using German data to empirically assess the nature of home production, and find that spouses’ home hours are complements. We investigate to what extent complementarity in home hours drives sorting and inequality. We find that home production complementarity strengthens positive marriage sorting and reduces the gender gap in hours and in labour sorting. This puts significant downward pressure on the gender wage gap and on within-household income inequality, but fuels between-household inequality. Our estimated model sheds new light on the sources of inequality in today’s Germany, and—by identifying important shifts in home production technology toward more complementarity—on the evolution of inequality over time.
home production, Matching models, Labor markets, gender wage gap, marriage market, technological change, labour market, household income inequality, hours, sorting
home production, Matching models, Labor markets, gender wage gap, marriage market, technological change, labour market, household income inequality, hours, sorting
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 8 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
