One Pot or Two Pot Strategies? Income Pooling in Married and Unmarried Households in Comparative Perspective

This paper investigates money management. It compares married and cohabiting couples across four countries with different levels of institutionalization of cohabitation and different welfare regimes. Using data from the ISSP 2002, this study shows that the legal status of the union is one of the strongest predictors of the money pooling practices in all four countries. Cohabitors tend to choose independent money management more often than married couples.