David Ong (Jinan University-Birmingham University Joint Institute) will present "Is women’s competitiveness expressed through their husband’s income ?".

ABSTRACT :
We test for the influence of heterosexual individuals’ own and cohabiting partner’s competitiveness on their own and partner’s income using a recently validated self-reported measure of competitiveness, incorporated in 2017 within a large representative sample survey, with income data from 2015-2021. First, we show that in aggregate, the past (before 2017) and future (after 2017) income levels of men and women increase with their own competitiveness when we do not control for contemporaneous (2017) income. When we do control for contemporaneous income to eliminate the potential influence of past success on self-reported competitiveness, we find that only the future income of single men and women increases on their own competitiveness, but not that of cohabiting men or women. Remarkably, only men’s female partner’s competitiveness, not their own, increases their future income. Women’s competitiveness also increases household income. Men do not increase their female partners and only marginally increase household income. Inconsistent with women’s competitiveness increasing men’s income by increasing women’s specialization in household production, women’s competitiveness does not increase men’s work hours. However, men’s own competitiveness does increase their work hours, but evidently, longer hours do not increase their income. Our findings suggest that women’s competitiveness may, paradoxically, be contributing to gender and household income inequalities.