Comparative Advantage in the Household: Should One Person Specialize in a Household’s Financial Matters?

Abstract

This study examines if households experience utility gains by selecting one of its members to specialize in its financial management. Utilizing data that are collected from the Health and Retirement Study, a variable measuring households’ level of financial specialization (HFS) is first constructed. The HFS variable is examined for its association with household utility, measured in this study as financial satisfaction, income satisfaction, and life satisfaction. The evidence provided strongly indicates that a household that selects one of its members to specialize in its financial management experiences utility gains.