How much income would a woman living alone require to attain the same
standard of living that she would have if she were married? What
percentage of a married couple's expenditures are controlled by the
husband? How much money does a couple save on consumption goods by living
together versus living apart? We propose and estimate a collective model
of household behaviour that permits identification and estimation of
concepts such as these. We model households in terms of the utility
functions of its members, a bargaining or social welfare function, and a
consumption technology function. We demonstrate generic non-parametric
identification of the model, and hence of a version of adult equivalence
scales that we call "indifference scales", as well as consumption
economies of scale, the household's resource sharing rule or members'
bargaining power, and other related concepts. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.
