This paper aims to shed light on the determinants of household labor supply by
conducting comparative study and by applying the collective labor supply model. On
the basis of data from Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) we tested parametric
restrictions imposed by two alternative (unitary and collective) household labor
supply models on Georgian, French and Romanian data sets. Our comparison of
household labor supply behavior and patterns reveals some similarities, but also
several differences across countries. First, the study results suggest that own and
partner’s wages, and distribution factors are important determinants of household
labor supply in all countries in this study. Second, we found some similarities in the
preference structures and in the impact of personal and demographic
characteristics on the household behavioral patterns across countries. Third, the
study results show that the household labor supply patterns across countries differ
substantially. Fourth, we found that collective model is not equally applicable for
describing household labor supply in different labor market regimes. For France and
Romania, the evidence supports appropriateness of the collective household labor
supply model, while in Georgia household labor supply behavior cannot be
adequately described by either unitary or collective model.