LABOR SUPPLY AND CHILD STATUS EFFECTS ON HOUSEHOLD DEMANDS

This study draws attention to empirical evidence for the United Kingdom and Canada rejecting the separability of household commodity demands from labor supply. As might be anticipated on the basis of these rejections, using Canadian data, we find clear patterns in the average expenditure shares for husband-wife families classified by whether both spouses, only the man, only the woman, or neither worked. The patterns remain even when the families are further categorized by child-status and by family income. A number of implications of these findings are considered.