There are four parts to this thesis: the first chapter analyses the structure of leisure in couples with particular emphasis on joint leisure. We take a structural approach and model the household as a two-stage decision making unit. The findings suggest that couples see joint leisure as a distinct good from private leisure. Specifically when a household decides to have more leisure, almost 40 percent of this increase is allocated to joint leisure as opposed to only 8 to 15 percent allocated to male private leisure. Furthermore, couples prefer to spend leisure together (synchronisation) relative to spending time independently, giving joint leisure the largest weight in the utility function. The findings further suggest that demographics can play a large role in determining the patterns of spousal leisure, with ethnicity and job characteristics being important factors. Finally, when analysing weekend time use patterns, there is evidence to suggest that Saturdays should be distinguished from Sundays as approximately 41 percent more joint leisure is observed on Sundays. The second chapter of the thesis begins our examination of the UK income taxation reform in 1990. The UK went from a system of joint taxation to independent taxation of couples and this reform may have had important implications for households. Across countries, there is a large variation in the income tax treatment of couples. Over the last three decades, many countries have undergone reforms in their tax systems, some have moved from joint to independent taxation, some from independent to joint, while others have begun the practice of allowing couples to choose the system they prefer. This chapter aims to give an overview of the tax treatment of couples and outlines the differences across countries, with particular emphasis on the tax reform in the UK. The third chapter investigates the UK income taxation reform in 1990 and examines how the change from a system of joint to independent taxation of couples has shifted women's relative earning potentials in the household, and how this in turn has led to changes in intra-household assignable clothing expenditures. I apply my method to a sample of UK couples with children and the findings of this chapter show that an exogenous increase in women's income relative to their spouse significantly and substantially increases female clothing expenditure and decreases male clothing expenditure ceteris paribus. However an increase in relative female earnings does not necessarily mean that children will do better relatively. The final outcome may depend on the type of transfer in question. In addition, there is evidence that the final allocations of expenditures on each partner and children may depend significantly on distribution factors such as spousal relative incomes, age gap and educational gap, despite the fact that these variables do not impact on preferences nor on budgets directly. This provides further evidence against the unitary framework in favour of the collective approach and the sharing rule interpretation of how households make decisions in practice. The final chapter of this thesis examines the effects of the tax reform in 1990 with particular emphasis on female labour supply. A method of clarifying the concept of a spouse's individual net income under a joint tax regime is proposed and following the methodology of Blundell et al (2007), the labour supply elasticities for both male and female are estimated. The analysis is extended further to include children in the model and the results show that both the number of children and their age are highly significant for women's labour supply and to a smaller extent also for men. Testing the income pooling hypothesis, the unitary model is not rejected. However, the results strongly reject the hypothesis that distribution factors have no effect on labour supply. The results also suggest that for the group of women affected, the reform generated two opposing effects on their labour supply: a positive effect from an increase in net wage and a negative effect from an increase in bargaining power. On balance, we find that a typical female decreased her labour supply by approximately 2.6 hours per week, yet she still experienced a 22 percent increase in her net income.

This thesis examines three questions concerned with the relative income needs of families of different sizes - often summarised by indices known as ???equivalence scales???. The first is the extent to which researchers and policy makers should offset the costs of family composition (eg the expenditure costs of children) with the benefits associated with demographic choice (eg the ???joys of parenthood???). Chapter 2 concludes that there are demographic and financial market constraints that will often make a narrow focus on expenditure costs appropriate for distributional research and tax/transfer policies. However, this will not always be the case. One implication of this result is that it may be reasonable for distributional research to use different equivalence scales for adults and children in the same household. Part 2 of the thesis introduces a new method for the estimation of the within-household income distribution and expenditure costs of different family types. This is based upon the household welfare model of Samuelson together with Lau???s method for modelling the joint consumption of household goods. In Chapter 4, this method is applied to the estimation of equivalence scales for older singles and married couples. The estimation is based upon a detailed set of assumptions about the extent of joint consumption for 17 different commodity groups. The main conclusions are that: the theoretical model fits the observed behaviour well (with the exception of some home production effects); that aged couples share their income relatively evenly; and that the relative rate of pension for aged singles in Australia is probably too low. In Part 3, the thesis examines how changes in poverty can be estimated when there is uncertainty about the equivalence scale. The thesis proposes a new method which permits a set of upper and lower bounds for the equivalence scale to be assumed, which in turn determine upper and lower bounds for the increase in poverty. This method is applied to measure the change in poverty in Australia during the 1980s. Equivalence scales can be found that imply either an increase or a decrease in poverty.

This thesis examines three questions concerned with the relative income needs of families of different sizes - often summarised by indices known as ???equivalence scales???. The first is the extent to which researchers and policy makers should offset the costs of family composition (eg the expenditure costs of children) with the benefits associated with demographic choice (eg the ???joys of parenthood???). Chapter 2 concludes that there are demographic and financial market constraints that will often make a narrow focus on expenditure costs appropriate for distributional research and tax/transfer policies. However, this will not always be the case. One implication of this result is that it may be reasonable for distributional research to use different equivalence scales for adults and children in the same household. Part 2 of the thesis introduces a new method for the estimation of the within-household income distribution and expenditure costs of different family types. This is based upon the household welfare model of Samuelson together with Lau???s method for modelling the joint consumption of household goods. In Chapter 4, this method is applied to the estimation of equivalence scales for older singles and married couples. The estimation is based upon a detailed set of assumptions about the extent of joint consumption for 17 different commodity groups. The main conclusions are that: the theoretical model fits the observed behaviour well (with the exception of some home production effects); that aged couples share their income relatively evenly; and that the relative rate of pension for aged singles in Australia is probably too low. In Part 3, the thesis examines how changes in poverty can be estimated when there is uncertainty about the equivalence scale. The thesis proposes a new method which permits a set of upper and lower bounds for the equivalence scale to be assumed, which in turn determine upper and lower bounds for the increase in poverty. This method is applied to measure the change in poverty in Australia during the 1980s. Equivalence scales can be found that imply either an increase or a decrease in poverty.

This thesis examines three questions concerned with the relative income needs of families of different sizes - often summarised by indices known as ???equivalence scales???. The first is the extent to which researchers and policy makers should offset the costs of family composition (eg the expenditure costs of children) with the benefits associated with demographic choice (eg the ???joys of parenthood???). Chapter 2 concludes that there are demographic and financial market constraints that will often make a narrow focus on expenditure costs appropriate for distributional research and tax/transfer policies. However, this will not always be the case. One implication of this result is that it may be reasonable for distributional research to use different equivalence scales for adults and children in the same household. Part 2 of the thesis introduces a new method for the estimation of the within-household income distribution and expenditure costs of different family types. This is based upon the household welfare model of Samuelson together with Lau???s method for modelling the joint consumption of household goods. In Chapter 4, this method is applied to the estimation of equivalence scales for older singles and married couples. The estimation is based upon a detailed set of assumptions about the extent of joint consumption for 17 different commodity groups. The main conclusions are that: the theoretical model fits the observed behaviour well (with the exception of some home production effects); that aged couples share their income relatively evenly; and that the relative rate of pension for aged singles in Australia is probably too low. In Part 3, the thesis examines how changes in poverty can be estimated when there is uncertainty about the equivalence scale. The thesis proposes a new method which permits a set of upper and lower bounds for the equivalence scale to be assumed, which in turn determine upper and lower bounds for the increase in poverty. This method is applied to measure the change in poverty in Australia during the 1980s. Equivalence scales can be found that imply either an increase or a decrease in poverty.

This dissertation includes three papers that address various aspects of the economics of labour and the family. The dissertation integrates the discussion on the following issues: (1) the allocation of housework and childcare in Canadian two-earner households (2) the effect of family policy reform on time allocation and labour supply in two-parent families (3) effect of anticipated divorce and divorce duration on male and female labour supply. The first paper Time Allocation Gender Gap in Native-born and Foreign-born Families in Canada focuses on the difference between the housework and childcare share produced by foreign-born husbands compared to Canadian-born husbands. This empirical analysis employs the data from the Canadian General Social Survey. The results show that foreign-born husbands have a lower share of housework and childcare compared to their Canadian-born counterparts. The second paper The effect of Quebec childcare policy change on the labour market outcomes and time distribution in the family analyzes the effect of the childcare policy change that took place in Quebec in 1997-2000. The results show that the introduction of “$5 per day” daycare subsidized by the Quebec government increased the labour supply of married mothers and also affected the allocation of time husbands and wives spend on housework and childcare. The data from this project were drawn from 1996 and 2001 Canadian Census. The third paper Labour supply of Australian men and women before and after divorce studies the changes in the labour supply of men and women before and after divorce. The data for empirical analysis employs 12 waves of Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA). The outcome suggests that men and women do not change labour participation and weekly working hours in anticipation of divorce. Women increase labour force participation and weekly hours worked as a result of divorce. Men’s labour supply does not change in response to divorce.

This thesis examines three questions concerned with the relative income needs of families of different sizes - often summarised by indices known as ???equivalence scales???. The first is the extent to which researchers and policy makers should offset the costs of family composition (eg the expenditure costs of children) with the benefits associated with demographic choice (eg the ???joys of parenthood???). Chapter 2 concludes that there are demographic and financial market constraints that will often make a narrow focus on expenditure costs appropriate for distributional research and tax/transfer policies. However, this will not always be the case. One implication of this result is that it may be reasonable for distributional research to use different equivalence scales for adults and children in the same household. Part 2 of the thesis introduces a new method for the estimation of the within-household income distribution and expenditure costs of different family types. This is based upon the household welfare model of Samuelson together with Lau???s method for modelling the joint consumption of household goods. In Chapter 4, this method is applied to the estimation of equivalence scales for older singles and married couples. The estimation is based upon a detailed set of assumptions about the extent of joint consumption for 17 different commodity groups. The main conclusions are that: the theoretical model fits the observed behaviour well (with the exception of some home production effects); that aged couples share their income relatively evenly; and that the relative rate of pension for aged singles in Australia is probably too low. In Part 3, the thesis examines how changes in poverty can be estimated when there is uncertainty about the equivalence scale. The thesis proposes a new method which permits a set of upper and lower bounds for the equivalence scale to be assumed, which in turn determine upper and lower bounds for the increase in poverty. This method is applied to measure the change in poverty in Australia during the 1980s. Equivalence scales can be found that imply either an increase or a decrease in poverty.

This thesis comprises three stand-alone chapters: The first chapter is on the effect of natural disasters on labor markets. Using data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey, the Desinventar database, the US Geological Survey and district level employment indicators, we explore how a large earthquake in Indonesia affected local labor markets, in particular the evolution of wages and employment across sectors. We find that wage growth in the agriculture sector is significantly higher in earthquake affected areas. We propose two mechanisms for this result and show evidence for both mechanisms. The second chapter investigates the intra-household allocation of leisure and consumption among siblings. Children are often treated as passive members in the household and their preferences over consumption and leisure are rarely modeled. This chapter considers children as agents with their own preferences over leisure and consumption and builds a theoretical and empirical model for children's time and consumption allocations in a household. We test the predictions of the model with data from Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. The results suggest that differences in siblings' relative time and consumption allocations are driven by their relative preferences over leisure and consumption rather than differences in parents' relative altruism. The third chapter examines the cost of transport infrastructure in developing countries. To our knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes drivers of unit costs of construction of transport infrastructure using a large data set of 3,322 unit costs of road work activities in low and middle income countries. We find a large dispersion in unit costs for comparable work activities. Unit costs are significantly higher in conflict and corrupt countries, and these effects are robust to controlling for a country's public investment capacity and business environment. Finally, higher unit costs are significantly negatively correlated with infrastructure provision.

L’incertitude pèse sur les ménages ruraux des pays en développement. Cette thèse vise d’une part à mieux comprendre quels sont les conséquences de cette vulnérabilité sur les comportements et d’autre part à analyser la mise en oeuvre et l’impact des stratégies de gestion de risque, qu’elles soient internes ou externes au ménage. Le premier chapitre se concentre sur l’effet de l’exposition au risque foncier sur le comportement d’épargne en Angola. Il établit que les ménages non dotés de documents de propriété ne sont pas à même de cumuler une épargne de précaution. Ce comportement d’auto-Couverture ne se manifeste que lors du cumul de plusieurs risques. Le second chapitre se focalise sur la prise de décision à l’intérieur du ménage pour le choix de stratégies de diversification. Il s’agit d’étudier l’allocation du temps de travail des femmes au Sénégal entre le travail domestique et les activités génératrices de revenus. Un modèle de type sphères séparées avec un transfert entre conjoints est validé. Le faible rôle des incitations financières et l’importance du pouvoir de négociation sont démontrés. Le dernier chapitre analyse l’impact sur la vulnérabilité des ménages d’une intervention extérieure au travers d’un programme visant à l’accès aux services énergétiques. Son impact est mesuré sur la nutrition des enfants. Les résultats démontrent un effet positif et progressif de la présence de l’infrastructure sur la nutrition de long terme. L’intensité de fonctionnement réduit la malnutrition de court terme. Un effet de diffusion est également établi. Ces trois chapitres permettent de montrer l’incapacité des ménages à mettre en place des stratégies de lutte contre la vulnérabilité de façon autonome. Elles prouvent ensuite la nécessité de développer l’accès aux marchés dans les zones rurales. Enfin, le rôle de l’intervention extérieure pour fournir des instruments de gestion aux ménages est souligné. / Uncertainty hangs over rural households in developing countries. This thesis aims first to better understand the consequences of vulnerability on behavior and also to analyze the implementationand impact of risk management strategies, internal or external to the household. The first chapter concentrates on the effect of exposure to tenure insecurity in Angola on saving behavior. It states that households without document are not able to accumulate precautionary saving. This behavior of self-Coverage only occurs with cumulated risks. The second chapter focuses on the decision-Making within the household for the choice of diversification strategies. The allocation of women working time in Senegal between domestic work and income generating activities is studied. A model of separate spheres with a transfer between spouses is validated. The low incidence of financial incentives and the importance of bargaining power are demonstrated. The last chapter analyzes the impact of external intervention on household vulnerability through a program which aims to develop access to energy services. Its impact is estimated on the nutrition of children. The results show a positive and progressive effect of the presence of the infrastructure on long- erm nutrition. The intensity of use reduces the short-Term malnutrition. A diffusion effect is also established. These three chapters allow to stress the inability of households to develop independent strategies against the vulnerability. Then they make out the need to develop market access in rural areas. Finally,the role of external intervention to provide management tools to households is underlined