My money, your money, our money: Contributions to the study of couples' financial management in Portugal

Abstract

The relationship between conjugality and household financial management has yet to be properly studied in Portugal, particularly in what concerns the ways dominant social norms regarding gender and marriage influence financial behaviour, power relations and resource consumption and sharing by couples. Studies carried out in other countries show that the various systems for managing family accounts are related, in a complex manner, to access to resources, wellbeing and satisfaction of needs of the different family members. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of this subject in the Portuguese context by discussing the complexity of intrahousehold financial negotiations and decisions. It also presents the preliminary results of a study which, using data from the 2010 Portuguese Institute of Statistics Survey on Income and Living Conditions, applies to Portuguese couples a typology of modes of financial management and control developed by Jan Pahl and Carolyn Vogler.