Abstract
We examine time allocation decisions in same-sex and different-sex couples from a Beckerian comparative advantage perspective. In particular, we estimate the comparative advantage relationship between time spent on either market or household activities and a dummy for being the highest earner in a couple on samples of same-sex and different-sex couples. Using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), we find that same-sex couples specialize not as much as different-sex couples. We argue that these specialization differences are driven by the most traditional different-sex couples. Without married couples with wives at home taking care of children and husbands working outside the home, which represent at most 20% of all different-sex couples, we find that the highest earner in a couple spends 80 min more per day on market work and 40 min less per day on household work, regardless their sexual orientation. We therefore conclude that, from a comparative advantage perspective, most same-sex and different-sex couples specialize equally.
Highlights
The division of labor is generally stronger in di↵erent-sex couples than in same-sex couples; as noted in empirical studies, di↵erent-sex partners often end up in traditional families, with men specializing in market work and women in household work (Aguiar and Hurst, 2007; Ramey and Francis, 2009; Juhn and McCue, 2017), whereas same-sex partners tend to be much more similar in how they allocate their time to market and/or household work (Jepsen and Jepsen, 2006; Tebaldi and Elmslie, 2006; Black et al, 2007; Leppel, 2009; Giddings et al, 2014; Jepsen and Jepsen, 2015; Prickett et al, 2015; Bauer, 2016; Martell and Roncolato, 2016)
We argue that these di↵erences are driven by the most traditional couples in the sample, that is to say, married couples with wives at home taking care of children and husbands working outside the home. Without those traditional couples, which represent at most 20 percent of all di↵erent-sex couples, we find that partners in same-sex and di↵erent-sex are responsive to each others’ comparative advantage; that is, the highest-earning partner spends 80 minutes more per day on market work and 40 minutes less per day on household work, regardless their sexual orientation
When we define conventional di↵erentsex couples more rigourously as married couples with husbands working outside the home and wives at home taking care of children and compare same-sex couples with di↵erent-sex couples deleting the most conventional di↵erent-sex couples from the sample, we get very similar results: that is, without the most conventional di↵erent-sex couples, which is only 20 percent in the sample of di↵erent-sex couples, we find in panel E that all couples, meaning both samesex and di↵erent-sex couples, are responsive to a comparative advantage in earnings
Summary
The division of labor is generally stronger in di↵erent-sex couples than in same-sex couples; as noted in (recent) empirical studies, di↵erent-sex partners often end up in traditional families, with men specializing in market work and women in household work (Aguiar and Hurst, 2007; Ramey and Francis, 2009; Juhn and McCue, 2017), whereas same-sex partners tend to be much more similar in how they allocate their time to market and/or household work (Jepsen and Jepsen, 2006; Tebaldi and Elmslie, 2006; Black et al, 2007; Leppel, 2009; Giddings et al, 2014; Jepsen and Jepsen, 2015; Prickett et al, 2015; Bauer, 2016; Martell and Roncolato, 2016). Long before empirical same-sex evidence became available, Becker (1991) already speculated that same-sex couples should specialize less than di↵erent-sex couples According to his theory on comparative advantage and family specialization, partners can mutually benefit if they specialize and take advantage of each others comparative advantage in market and household work; in the absence of sex di↵erences between partners, Becker argued that same-sex partners are expected to specialize less because they have less to gain from their comparative advantage. In this study we examine time allocation decisions in same-sex and di↵erent-sex couples from a Beckerian comparative advantage perspective (Becker, 1981, 1991). We estimate the comparative advantage relationship between time spent on either market or household activities and a dummy for being the highest earner in a couple on samples of same-sex and di↵erent-sex couples. We estimate the same relationship on alternative samples (consisting of less conventional couples, cohabiting couples, childless couples, and younger and more recently formed couples) to explore some of the alternative explanations for why same-sex couples may specialize less than di↵eren-sex couples.
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