There is a fairly famous empirical paper that I have heard of but I don't actually know the citation. What the authors found is that the best predictor of whether a wife works is the income of her sister's husband!
Anyone care to provide the cite? and more information? In principle this sounds like an excellent application of the relative status idea as the comparison group is natural and the metric is observable and the theory testable. By the way, Becker-Stigler refers to their joint paper De Gustibus non est Disputandum, American Economic Review, 1977, vol. 67, issue 2, pages 76-90. Alex -- Dr. Alexander Tabarrok Vice President and Director of Research The Independent Institute 100 Swan Way Oakland, CA, 94621-1428 Tel. 510-632-1366, FAX: 510-568-6040 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
