Juggling Priorities

Abstract

How do women’s relative labor market opportunities affect consumption patterns for married couples? While higher potential wages can enhance women’s bargaining power, shifting consumption toward their preferences, they may increase work hours, altering time constraints and spending. Using exogenous gender-specific wages and scanner data, we find higher female relative wages increase spending on convenience foods and decrease spending on fresh produce, contributing to higher obesity rates. This is primarily driven by women’s time reallocation given their disproportionate domestic responsibilities. Our findings suggest that the impacts of earned female income may differ from those of unearned income found in previous studies.