One Pot or Two Pot Strategies? Income Pooling in Married and Unmarried Households in Comparative Perspective

This paper investigates money management practices in private households. It compares married and cohabiting couples across four countries with different levels of institutionalization of cohabitation and different welfare regimes (Denmark, Spain, France, and the United States). Using data from the International Social Survey Program 2002 module on Changing Family Roles (ISSP 2002), this study shows that the legal status of the union is one of the strongest predictors of the money pooling practices in all four countries. Cohabitors tend to choose independent money management more often than married couples and this finding holds even after controlling for a range of socio-economic and attitudinal characteristics. Moreover, the effect of the union type is rather uniform across these four countries despite their institutional differences.