The wage gap and the leisure gap for double-earner couples

Empirical research has consistently shown that, on average, men are paid higher wages than women. Moreover, men enjoy more leisure time than women. We develop a noncooperative model of the private provision of family public goods to analyze whether the wage gap and the leisure gap are related. Simultaneous and sequential decision-making structures within a couple lead to different empirical hypotheses. Our estimates based on the German Socio-Economic Panel data show that husbands enjoy, other things equal, more leisure time than their wives. This advantage can be explained if the husband is the Stackelberg leader in a sequential private provision game.