Revisiting gender identity and relative income within households: A cautionary tale on the potential pitfalls of density estimators

Kuehnle D, Oberfichtner M, Ostermann K (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Journal of Applied Econometrics Wiley-Blackwell

Book Volume: 36

Pages Range: 1065-1073

Journal Issue: 7

DOI: 10.1002/jae.2853

Abstract

We show that Bertrand et al.'s (QJE, 2015,) finding of a sharp drop in the relative income distribution within married couples at the point where wives start to earn more than their husbands is unstable across different estimation procedures and varies across contexts. We apply the estimators by McCrary (JoE, 2008, McC) and Cattaneo et al. (JASA, 2020, CJM) to administrative data from the United States and Germany and compare their performance in a simulation. Large bins cause McC to substantially overreject the null hypothesis, and mass points close to the potential discontinuity affect McC more than CJM.

Authors with CRIS profile

Michael Oberfichtner

Involved external institutions

Universität Duisburg-Essen (UDE) DE Germany (DE) Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB) der Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Kuehnle, D., Oberfichtner, M., & Ostermann, K. (2021). Revisiting gender identity and relative income within households: A cautionary tale on the potential pitfalls of density estimators. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 36(7), 1065-1073. https://doi.org/10.1002/jae.2853

MLA:

Kuehnle, Daniel, Michael Oberfichtner, and Kerstin Ostermann. "Revisiting gender identity and relative income within households: A cautionary tale on the potential pitfalls of density estimators." Journal of Applied Econometrics 36.7 (2021): 1065-1073.

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