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Collective household welfare and intra-household inequality

Author

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  • Chavas, Jean-Paul

    (Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin)

  • Menon, Martina

    (Department of Economics, University of Verona)

  • Pagani, Elisa

    (Department of Economics, University of Verona)

  • Perali, Federico

    (Department of Economics, University of Verona)

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between the individual and household indirect utility functions in the context of a collective household model. Our analysis produces new results that explain how the rule governing the distribution of resources among household members is related to the measurement of household welfare and intra-household inequality. We show that in a collective model of private consumption, income shares are equal to the product of two weights: the Pareto weight and a distribution weight reflecting income effects across individuals. For a weighted Bergsonian representation of household utility and general assumptions about individual preferences, we derive the associated household welfare functions and intra-household inequality measures belonging to a family of entropy indexes. We illustrate our findings with an empirical application that estimates a collective demand system to recover associated individual and household welfare functions along with the measures of intra-household inequality. This is the first application that estimates the Pareto weight and examines its role within a measure of income dispersion among household members.

Suggested Citation

  • Chavas, Jean-Paul & Menon, Martina & Pagani, Elisa & Perali, Federico, 2018. "Collective household welfare and intra-household inequality," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(2), May.
    • Handle: RePEc:the:publsh:2459
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    Cited by:

    1. Donni, Olivier & Molina, José Alberto, 2018. "Household Collective Models: Three Decades of Theoretical Contributions and Empirical Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 11915, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Jean-Paul Chavas & Eleonora Matteazzi & Martina Menon & Federico Perali, 2021. "Bargaining in the Family," CHILD Working Papers Series 88 JEL Classification: D1, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    3. Louis Eeckhoudt & Elisa Pagani & Eugenio Peluso, 2023. "Multidimensional risk aversion: the cardinal sin," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 320(1), pages 15-31, January.
    4. Echeverría, Lucía, 2020. "Modelos colectivos de consumo y distribución intra-hogar. Teoría y aplicaciones," Nülan. Deposited Documents 3832, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    5. Echeverría, Lucía & Menon, Martina & Perali, Federico & Berges, Miriam, 2019. "Intra-household inequality and child welfare in Argentina," Nülan. Deposited Documents 3051, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    6. Piera Mazzoleni & Elisa Pagani & Federico Perali, 2019. "The curvature properties of social welfare functions," Working Papers 493, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    7. Jean-Paul Chavas & Eleonora Matteazzi & Martina Menon & Federico Perali, 2022. "(In)Efficient Bargaining in the Family," Working Papers 2, SITES.
    8. Eleftherios Giovanis & Oznur Ozdamar, 2019. "A Collective Household Labour Supply Model with Disability: Evidence from Iraq," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 209-225, June.
    9. Getachew Yirga Belete & Martina Menon & Federico Perali, 2022. "Children’s Resources and Poverty: A Collective Consumption Evidence from Ethiopia," Working Papers 1, SITES.
    10. Eleftherios Giovanis & Martina Menon & Federico Perali, 2023. "Disability specific equivalence scales: a case–control approach applied to the cost of acquired brain injuries," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 643-672, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Collective household model; sharing rule; household welfare; intra-household inequality; theil index;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation

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