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Employment Patterns of Husbands and Wives and Family Income Distribution in Italy (1977–98)
Author(s) -
Del Boca Daniela,
Pasqua Silvia
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
review of income and wealth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.024
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1475-4991
pISSN - 0034-6586
DOI - 10.1111/1475-4991.00084
Subject(s) - economics , earnings , distribution (mathematics) , income distribution , household income , inequality , demographic economics , labour economics , economic inequality , family income , total personal income , geography , gross income , economic growth , mathematical analysis , mathematics , accounting , archaeology , tax reform , public economics , state income tax
The pattern of employment among men and women has changed remarkably over the past decades. The growth in the participation in the labor market of women with high‐income husbands has heightened concerns that wives’ earnings may increase income inequality among married couples, especially in countries like Italy, the U.K., and the U.S., where more noticeable growth of income inequality during the past decade has accompanied changes in employment levels. In this paper we attempt to measure the impact of the changes of women and men's employment patterns on the distribution of income among Italian households, by considering regional differences, using micro data from the Historical Archive of the Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) for the period 1977–98. Our results indicate that total income distribution would have been more unequal without women's labor income.