An empirical analysis of the time allocation of Italian couples: Are they responsive?

H.G. Bloemen, S. Pasqua, E.G.F. Stancanelli

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

141 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The literature suggests that in Italy husbands contribute less to unpaid household work than in any other European country, while women have the lowest market employment rates. Here we examine the time allocation of Italian couples on which there are surprisingly few studies to date. We analyze simultaneously the time allocated by husband and wife to market work, childcare and housework, allowing for various interactions. We use data drawn from the Italian national Time Use Survey 2002-2003 for the analysis. We find that spousal time allocation is sensitive to personal and household characteristics, such as, in particular, education and children's age. Evidence shows that men married to more highly educated women spend more time with their children. The husband's own characteristics have less of an effect on women's time allocation. We also find that patterns differ substantially between weekends and weekdays. The estimated correlations between the unobservable factors affecting the couple's time allocation suggest that the time devoted by parents to childcare is complementary and that the time they devote to housework is substitutable across weekends and other weekdays. © 2009 The Author(s).
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)345-369
Number of pages25
JournalReview of Economics of the Household
Volume8
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'An empirical analysis of the time allocation of Italian couples: Are they responsive?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this