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June 2025 Revised January 2026
JEL classification: D83, D84, D13, J12
Authors: Adeline Delavande, Gizem Kosar, and Basit Zafar
This paper combines descriptive and experimental evidence to examine how expectations align and information flows within couples. Using an online survey of 2,200 middle-aged U.S. married couples, we focus on expectations about Social Security benefits. We first document substantial misalignment: the correlation between spouses’ expectations about a given partner’s benefits is 0.70, below full agreement, and varies systematically with couple characteristics, reaching as low as 0.45 for couples with belowmedian earnings. To identify causal information spillovers, we implement a randomized information experiment paired with a sequential survey design in which one spouse receives targeted information and the other is surveyed later. Information provided to one spouse partially spills over to the other, with the effect on the untreated spouse about half that on the treated one. Spillovers are larger when communication barriers are low and the information is more valuable. Finally, the information treatment improves conditions for more efficient intra-household decision-making.
The author declares that she has no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. This research reported herein was performed pursuant to grant RDR19000003 from the US Social Security Administration funded as part of the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium. Our project was approved by the NBER IRB. The author also acknowledges support from the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (ES/S012486/1) and Horizon Europe (101086974).
Gizem Koşar
The author declares that she has no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. This research reported herein was performed pursuant to grant RDR19000003 from the US Social Security Administration funded as part of the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium. Our project was approved by the NBER IRB.
Basit Zafar
The author declares that he has no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. This research reported herein was performed pursuant to grant RDR19000003 from the US Social Security Administration funded as part of the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium. Our project was approved by the NBER IRB.
Delavande, Adeline, Gizem Koşar, and Basit Zafar. 2025. “Expectations and Information Frictions Within Couples: Evidence from a Sequential Survey of Spouses.” Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no. 1154, June. https://doi.org/10.59576/sr.1154
