Independent or Joint? How Relative Income and Wealth Relate to Couples' Money Management in Eastern and Western Germany

Abstract

Objective

To assess the prevalence of independent money management (IMM) versus joint management among Eastern and Western German couples and examine how partners' relative income and wealth relate to IMM across regional contexts.

Background

IMM is often linked to contexts with higher levels of gender equality and greater resource equality between partners. It remains unclear whether IMM is more prevalent than joint management in contexts that differ in historical legacies but operate under a shared institutional framework.

Method

Using pooled data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we estimate cross-sectional logistic regression models for large samples of different-sex couples, distinguished as Eastern (N = 4298) and Western German couples (N = 9983).

Results

Eastern German couples were slightly less likely to manage money independently, reflecting a higher prevalence of joint management. Equal labor incomes increased IMM in the West but less so in the East. Wealth parity was consistently associated with lower IMM and higher joint management in both regions, though more weakly in the West.

Conclusion

The findings challenge the assumption that resource equality between partners universally fosters separation of money in couple households and highlight the importance of distinguishing between income and wealth as distinct types of economic resources. Despite a shared institutional framework, small regional differences indicate that the meaning of resource equality for money management may vary across historical contexts.