In this paper, we explore the role of female labor supply as an insurance mechanism against idiosyncratic earnings risk within the family. We use a life-cycle model in which a unitary family makes consumption, saving, and labor supply decisions. Additional uncertainty increases female...

We build an aggregate model with different size houses and liquid assets. Typical households are born, are subject to idiosyncratic earnings risk, and save for both life-cycle reasons and housing reasons. Typically, a subset of these households, after accumulating some assets, make a down...