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Social Roles, Human Capital, and the Intrahousehold Division of Labour: Evidence from Pakistan

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Author Info
Marcel Fafchamps
Agnes R. Quisumbing

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Abstract

Using detailed data from rural Pakistan, this paper investigates whether human capital, learning by doing, gender, and one`s status within the family - heretoforth family status - affect the division of labor within households. Results suggest the presence of returns to individual specialization in all farm, non-farm, and home based activities. The intrahousehold division of labor is influenced by comparative advantage based on human capital and by long-lasting returns to learning by doing, but we also find evidence of a separate effect of gender and family status. Households seem to operate as hierarchies with sexually segregated spheres of activity. The head of household and his or her spouse provide most of the labor within their respective spheres of influence; other members work less. When present in the household, daughters-in-law work systematically harder than daughters of comparable age, build, and education. Other findings of interest are that there are increasing returns to scale in most household chores, that larger households work more off farm, and that better educated individuals enjoy more leisure.

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Paper provided by University of Oxford, Department of Economics in its series Economics Series Working Papers with number 011.

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Date of creation: 2000
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Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:011

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Keywords: economics of the family social norms labor

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
O1 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor

References listed on IDEAS
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  4. Lundberg, Shelly & Pollak, Robert A, 1993. "Separate Spheres Bargaining and the Marriage Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(6), pages 988-1010, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Heckman, James J, 1974. "Effects of Child-Care Programs on Women's Work Effort," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(2), pages S136-S163, Part II, . [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Katz, Elizabeth G., 1995. "Gender and trade within the household: Observations from rural guatemala," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 327-342, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Alderman, Harold, et al, 1996. "The Returns to Endogenous Human Capital in Pakistan's Rural Wage Labour Market," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 58(1), pages 29-55, February.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Marcel Fafchamps & Forhad Shilpi, The World Bank, 2004. "Isolation and Subjective Welfare," Economics Series Working Papers 216, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Mattia Romani, 2004. "The impact of extension services in times of crisis: Côte d’Ivoire (1997-2000)," Development and Comp Systems 0409053, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  3. André Croppenstedt, 2006. "Household Income Structure and Determinants in Rural Egypt," Working Papers 06-02, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA). [Downloadable!]
  4. Marcel Fafchamps & Jackline Wahba, 2006. "Child Labor, Urban Proximity and Household Composition," IZA Discussion Papers 1966, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Micevska, Maja & Rahut, Dil Bahadur, 2007. "Rural Nonfarm Employment and Incomes in the Eastern Himalayas," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Göttingen 2007 22, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics. [Downloadable!]
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