Abstract
We analyze the effect of a wife’s human capital on her husband’s earnings, using individual-level data for Japan in the period 2000–2003. We find a positive association between a wife’s education and her husband’s earnings, which can be attributed to the assortative mating effect as well as the positive effect of an educated wife on her husband’s productivity. We divide the sample into those couples with non-working wives and those with working wives, and also employ an estimation strategy proposed by Jepsen (Review of Economics of the Household 3:197–214, 2005), attempting to control for the assortative mating effect. Our regression analysis provides suggestive evidence that educated wives increase their husbands’ productivity and earnings only when they are non-workers and have sufficient time to support their husbands.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
As an example of social learning, Yamamura (2008) reports a case study from Japan in which people learned how to use computers from neighbors that already owned one.
It is widely observed that a wife’s human capital positively influences a husband’s earnings; for instance, in Israel (Neuman and Ziderman 1992), Iran (Scully 1979), the Philippines (Boulier and Rosenzweig 1984), Malaysia (Amin and Jepsen 2005), and Brazil (Lam and Shoeni, 1993, 1994; Tiefenthaler, 1997).
Data for this secondary analysis, “Japanese General Social Surveys (JGSS), Ichiro Tanioka,” were provided by the Social Science Japan Data Archive, Information Center for Social Science Research on Japan, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo.
It is possible that a husband’s earnings are more appropriate than income in this context. However, for this paper, a husband’s income is not used, as this data was not available.
Admittedly, this argument is not entirely convincing, as one does not have to meet in school to mate assortatively.
Precisely speaking, the decision making process of a wife’s labor participation should be considered to control for self-selection. This is, however, beyond the scope of this note and is an issue to be addressed in a future study.
References
Amin, S., & Jepsen, L. (2005). The impact of a wife’s education on her husband’s earnings in Malaysia. Journal of Economics, 31, 1–18.
Becker, G. S. (1964). Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. New York: Columbia University Press for the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Becker, G. S. (1975). A Theory of Marriage. In W. Theodore (Ed.), Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital. Schultz: University of Chicago.
Benham, L. (1974). Benefits of women’s education within marriage. Journal of Political Economy, 82(2), S57–S71.
Behrman, J., & Wolfe, B. L. (1984). The socioeconomic impact of schooling in a developing country. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 66, 296–303.
Boulier, B. L., & Rosenzweig, M. R. (1984). Schooling, search, and spouse selection: Testing economic theories of marriage and household behavior. Journal of Political Economy, 92(4), 712–732.
Corcoran, M., Gordon, R., Laren, D., & Solon, G. (1990). Effects of family and community background on economic status. American Economic Review, 89, 362–366.
Corcoran, M., Gordon, R., Laren, D., & Solon, G. (1992). The association between men’s economic status and their family and community origins. Journal of Human Resources, 27(4), 575–601.
Gray, J. S. (1997). The fall in men’s return to marriage: Declining productivity effects or changing selection? Journal of Human Resources, 32(3), 481–504.
Hauser, R. M., & Sewell, W. H. (1986). Family effects in simple models of education, occupational status, and earnings: Findings from the Wisconsin and Kalamazoo studies. Journal of Labour Economics, 4(3), S83–S115.
Heckman, J., & Hotz, V. J. (1986). An investigation of the labour market earnings of Panamanian males: Evaluating the sources of inequality. Journal of Human Resources, 23, 462–487.
Huang, C., Li, H., Liu, P. W., & Zhang, J. (2009). Why does spousal education matter for earnings? Assortative mating and cross-productivity. Journal of Labor Economics, 27(4), 633–652.
Jepsen, L. K. (2005). The relationship between wife’s education and husband’s earnings: Evidence from 1960–2000. Review of Economics of the Household, 3, 197–214.
Kenny, L. (1983). The accumulation of human capital during marriage by males. Economic Inquiry, 21(2), 223–231.
Lam, D., & Shoeni, R. F. (1993). Effects of family background on earnings and returns to schoolings: Evidence from Brazil. Journal of Political Economy, 101(4), 710–740.
Lam, D., & Shoeni, R. F. (1994). Family ties and labour markets in the United States and Brazil. Journal of Human Resources, 29, 1235–1258.
Lefgren, L., & McIntyre, F. (1996). The relationship between women’s education and marriage outcomes. Journal of Labor Economics, 24(4), 787–830.
Liu, P.-W., & Zhang, J. (1999). Assortative mating versus the cross-productivity effect. Applied Economics Letters, 6(8), 523–525.
Loh, E. S. (1996). Productivity differences and the marriage wage premium for white males. Journal of Human Resources, 31(3), 566–589.
Neuman, S., & Ziderman, A. (1992). Benefits of women’s education within marriage: results of Israel in dual labor market context. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 40, 413–426.
Scully, G. W. (1979). Mullahs, Muslims and marital sorting. Journal of Political Economy, 87, 1139–1143.
Tiefenthaler, J. (1997). The productivity gains of marriage: Effects of spousal education on own productivity across market sectors in Brazil. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 45(3), 633–650.
Welch, F. (1974). Benefits of women’s education within marriage: Comment. Journal of Political Economy, 82(2), S72–S75.
Wong, Y.-C. (1986). Entrepreneurship, marriage, and earnings. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 68(4), 693–699.
Yamamura, E. (2008). Diffusion of home computers and social networks: a study using Japanese panel data. Applied Economics Letters, 15(15), 1231–1235.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yamamura, E., Mano, Y. An Investigation into the Positive Effect of an Educated Wife on Her Husband’s Earnings: The Case of Japan in the Period between 2000 and 2003. Int Adv Econ Res 18, 409–416 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-012-9368-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-012-9368-x