Split Households, Household Capital and Human Capital: Results from a Panel Analysis of India, 1993-2005

James Noon, University of Maryland

Household economics models have generally taken household structure for granted. Consequently, the fluidity of household structures has been under-examined. While the joint household structure is the ideal household type in India, household structures are not static, with many Indian households splitting and forming new households over time. Utilizing newly available panel data on Indian households for 1993-1994 and 2004-2005, this paper analyzes the factors that may influence whether a household stays intact over time or if the household splits into multiple households. Modeling household change as an outcome variable, this paper assesses the effects that the pooling of physical capital within the household has on household change. Additionally, the analysis measures the likelihood of household change as an outcome of human capital among household members.