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Household bargaining and spending on children: Experimental evidence from Tanzania

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  • Charlotte Ringdal
  • Ingrid Hoem Sjursen

Abstract

This paper studies whether increasing the wife's bargaining power results in couples allocating more resources to their child, and, if so, what the underlying mechanisms for this are. We conduct a novel between-subject lab experiment in Tanzania, in which we vary the relative bargaining power between spouses. The paper provides two main insights. First, increasing the wife's bargaining power does not result in an increase in the allocation to the child, but it does lead to equal allocations to boys and girls.

Suggested Citation

  • Charlotte Ringdal & Ingrid Hoem Sjursen, 2017. "Household bargaining and spending on children: Experimental evidence from Tanzania," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-128, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-128
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    Cited by:

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    2. Basu, Arnab & Dimova, Ralitza & Gbakou, Monnet & Viennet, Romane, 2023. "Parental risk preferences, maternal bargaining power, and the educational progressions of children: Lab-in-the-field evidence from rural Côte d'Ivoire," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. Bjorvatn, Kjetil & Getahun, Tigabu Degu & Halvorsen, Sandra Kristine, 2020. "Conflict or cooperation? Experimental evidence on intra-household allocations in Ethiopia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    4. Laurens Cherchye & Pierre-André Chiappori & Bram De Rock & Charlotte Ringdal & Frederic Vermeulen, 2021. "Feed the children," IFS Working Papers W21/32, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    5. Ramphul Ohlan, 2021. "Economic violence among women of economically backward Muslim minority community: the case of rural North India," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Guilherme Lichand & Juliette Thibaud, 2020. "Parent-bias," ECON - Working Papers 369, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised Jun 2022.
    7. Isha Chawla & Joseph Svec, 2023. "Household savings and present bias among Chinese couples: A household bargaining approach," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 648-672, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intra-household allocation; Female bargaining power; Tanzania;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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