Intra-household gender inequality and economic development: Evidence from Data, 1973

Abstract

Intra-household inequality continues to remain a neglected concept despite renewed focus on income and wealth inequality. Using a global micro dataset (the LIS micro data), we present evidence that this neglect is equivalent to ignoring up to a third of total inequality. For a wide range of countries and over four decades, we show that at least 30 per cent of total earnings inequality is attributable to gender inequality in earnings within the household. Using a simple normative measure of inequality, we comment on the welfare implications of these trends. Drawing on data from over three million households from around the world, we present preliminary empirical evidence supporting a non-monotonic relationship between intra-household gender inequality and household economic status. We discuss the historical political economy of this evidence supporting what we term the micro-Kuznets hypothesis.