Institutions, Social Norms, and Bargaining Power: An Analysis of Individual Leisure Time in Couple Households

Table 4 presents additional sensitivity tests using alternative measures of power.
Sample means for these alternative measures are presented at the top of the table, followed by
parameter estimates below. We first experiment with different education-related measures.
One such is own less partner’s years of education. This power measure yields essentially the
same results as our baseline relative education measure. Next we posit that one explanation
for the weak Danish results could be that the smaller earnings spread in Denmark makes
relative education a weak measure of relative power. Using the extremely detailed
information available on educational achievement in Denmark, information that essentially
includes field of study, we construct a measure reflecting each respondent’s expected share of
household lifetime earnings (Danish Economic Council, 2001). This alternative power
measure, however, while clearly magnifying gender differences in earnings power (see the
gender-specific means), has no significant impact on time use in Denmark.

Next we exploit further cross-country differences in welfare support. If the effect of
power in the US is driven primarily by the threat of divorce and the alternatives each partner
faces in the event of the dissolution of the union, then the impact of power may be smaller for
those more likely to receive governmental support. Such support is more likely for women
with low earnings power, hence low levels of education. To identify such women, we interact
a dummy variable identifying individuals with less than twelve years of education with our
baseline power measure. Women but not men with low education, particularly in the US,
should be at less of a disadvantage in negotiating leisure time as they have a higher threat
point. Our results indicate that this interaction term is not a significant determinant of leisure
time for Danes or for men in the US. In the case of US women on non-work days, however,
having less education mitigates the impact of our power measure on leisure time use. This

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