We model consumption and labor supply behavior of a couple in a non-cooperative setting. Using minimal assumptions, we prove that demand for public goods is characterized by three regimes. It is either determined by the preferences of one of the partners only (Husband Dictatorship or Wife...

We conducted an experiment on the nature of income sharing within 95 established couples in Germany. In a first step, the partners revealed their individual preferences by making consumption choices independently. In a second step, decisions were taken jointly over five different rounds with...

This paper presents a new model of the household that is able to explain a variety of consumption patterns that existing models cannot describe, most notably, those associated with the Deaton and Paxson (1998) paradox. The most distinctive feature of this model is the presence of common-pool...

I study how individual preferences and bargaining power within couples affects the impact of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Using longitudinal Homescan data, I find that wives have stronger preferences for SNAP-eligible food than husbands, and that household demand...

The theory of home production suggests substitutability between market consumption and home production. The current paper estimates the intratemporal elasticity between home production and market consumption from within-person variation. Shocks in houseprices induced by the Great Recession are...

Mathematical tractability has restricted economic analysis of consumer behavior within a confined boundary of certain axioms. Often, these axioms are found to be empirically false. Even more importantly, these axioms and the analytical framework based on them is incapable of explaining economic...

From 1998 to 2009 I find that the average time between U.S. households' grocery shopping trips has steadily increased from 4.7 to 6.2 days, and from 1998 to 2006 per capita monthly consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables has decreased from 130 to 112 oz. To understand these changes, a dynamic...

We investigate the relationship between centralized and decentralized collective demand models applied to consumption within a household with multiple individuals. The centralized program is described by a Bergsonian representation of the household utility function and a household budget...

While audience and participation surveys, as well as econometric demand studies, generally confirm that performing arts audiences are relatively elite, there are surprises. Education (despite conflicting causal interpretations) is a stronger determinant than income, but that evidence is more...

We develop a revealed preference approach to analyze non-unitary consumption models with intrahousehold allocations deviating from the cooperative (or Pareto efficient) solution. At a theoretical level, we establish revealed preference conditions of household consumption models with varying...