JPopulEcon(2001)14:569–584 999 2001 Estimating intrahousehold allocation in a collective model with household production Thomas Aronsson, Sven-Olov Daunfeldt, Magnus Wikstro ¨m DepartmentofEconomics,Umea ˚ University, S-901 87 Umea ˚,Sweden(Fax: þ46-90-772302; e-mail: thomas.aronsson@econ.umu.se; so.daunfeldt@econ.umu.se; magnus. wikstrom@econ.umu.se) Received:14April2000/Accepted:12January2001 Abstract. Thepurposeofthispaperistoestimatetheintra-familydistribution of income and the individual demand for leisure and household production from Swedish cross-sectional household data. As a basis for the analysis, we useacollectivemodelwhereeachindividualischaracterizedbyhisorherown utility function and divides total time between leisure, household production andmarketwork.Forthepurposeofcomparison,wealsoestimateaversion that is consistent with a more traditional model of labor supply, the unitary model. JEL classification: D13, J22 Key words: Time-use,householdproduction,collectivemodel 1. Introduction Traditionally, the household has been considered as a single utility maximiz- ing agent. This so called unitary model has lately been criticized both from a theoreticalandanempiricalviewpoint.Ithasbeenarguedthatamultiperson household cannot be modeled as a single individual because it contradicts theneoclassicalstartingpointthateveryindividualshouldbecharacterizedby his/her own preferences. Moreover, the unitary model only considers alloca- tionsbetweenhouseholdsanddisregardsquestionsconcerningintra-household inequalities, which may lead to wrong welfare implications (see Haddad and All correspondence to Sven-Olov Daunfeldt. We would like to thank Alessandro Cigno, Jonas Nordstro ¨m and an anonymous referee for valuable comments. A research grant from HSFR is gratefully acknowledged. Responsible editor: Alessandro Cigno.