Sibling Rivalry: A woman is more likely to work if her husband makes less than her sister's husband

This is an excerpt from the conclusion of a study by two UPenn economists, Neumark and Postlewaite (full article link)

In particular, women with non-working sisters are more likely to be

employed if their husbands earn less than their sisters’ husbands; this result is

consistent with women’s employment decisions being partly driven by relative

income concerns, because women with relatively low-earning husbands and

non-working sisters may be able to attain higher relative family income if they

work. In addition, women with working sisters are less likely to be employed if

their husbands earn less than their sisters’ husbands; this is also consistent with the

relative income model, since such women are unlikely to be able to attain higher

relative family income by working.




The authors suspect that the very rapid rise in female employment in the late half of the 20th century was driven not just by rational objective economic behavior, but partly by the need of married families to keep up with others.  In essence, once dual income families started to become commonplace, many families felt compelled to have 2 income earners so that they don't fall behind.