How Does “The Share of the Pie” Matter? European Empirics on the Financial Satisfaction of Partners
How Does “The Share of the Pie” Matter? European Empirics on the Financial Satisfaction of Partners

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to extend the knowledge of the relationship between withincouple income distribution and partners’ financial satisfaction, using data from the EU-SILC 2013 for 15 European countries, for the first time including data from Eastern Europe. We find that men’s preferences typically concur with the “traditional” male-breadwinner family model, as husband’s satisfaction decreases with a larger female share of household income. In contrast, in nine countries, men’s satisfaction actually increases at the point where they are substantially out-earned by their wives, but this concerns only a small fraction of couples. Women in half of the countries tend to prefer a single-income scheme with either partner being the breadwinner, but again we stress that this matters mainly in extreme situations, while a tendency towards egoistic preferences favouring a larger personal share of household income predominates otherwise. We find that women prefer the traditional male-breadwinner model in only four countries.

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