PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Ariel J. Binder AU - David Lam TI - Is There a Male Breadwinner Norm? The Hazards of Inferring Preferences from Marriage Market Outcomes AID - 10.3368/jhr.58.2.0320-10803R1 DP - 2020 Sep 11 TA - Journal of Human Resources PG - 0320-10803R1 4099 - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/09/01/jhr.58.2.0320-10803R1.short 4100 - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/09/01/jhr.58.2.0320-10803R1.full AB - This paper argues that distributions of spousal earnings gaps provide no identifying information for the male breadwinner norm, nor such a norm’s consequences for gender inequality. First, we show that simple marital matching models—without norm-related assumptions—closely replicate U.S. distributions of wife-husband earnings gaps. Second, we show that the discontinuity in this distribution as wives start to out-earn husbands reflects not breadwinner norms, but rather a point mass of equal-earning couples. We conclude by arguing that the point mass may also threaten other tests of the male breadwinner hypothesis, and proposing several robustness checks that future research should utilize.