Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Title: Children, Household Specialization and Relationship Quality
Author-Name: Belén Rodríguez Moro
Author-Email: Belen.Rodriguez@eui.eu 
Author-Name: Olatz Román
Author-Email: olatz.roman@uni-mannheim.de

Classification-JEL: J12, J13, J22, D13


Keywords: Fertility, Marital decisions, Time allocation, Household specialization

Abstract: We investigate how having children impacts the quality of couples' relationships, a proxy of the non-material gains from being in a relationship. Using a novel
measure of relationship quality (RQ), we perform a dynamic difference-in-differences estimation around the birth of the first child. We find a sharp and lasting
decrease in RQ immediately after birth. We attribute this effect to changes in household specialization. Traditional gender-based specialization prevails after
birth, regardless of the baseline distribution of tasks within the couple. Leveraging heterogeneous changes in household specialization after birth, we find that
couples undergoing larger rearrangements also suffer larger RQ drops.

Note: 
Length: 80
Creation-Date: 2025-12
Revision-Date: 
File-URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp719
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:CRCTR224_2025_719