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Intrahousehold inequality and child gender bias in Ethiopia

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Author Info
Koohi-Kamali, Feridoon
Abstract

The Rothbarth model of intrahousehold resource allocation has consistently failed to detect child gender bias in many applications over the past two decades. This paper challenges the current consensus that the Rothbarth method is not effective in revealing child gender bias from consumption behavior of adults. It proposes an approach to the Rothbarth model that restricts its application to samples of nuclear households, and employs an index of child gender based on the number of children in the household and related to a specific selective mechanism of discrimination. It demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach with an application to a 2005-06 Ethiopian consumption survey of 21,299 households conducted by Ethiopia's Statistical Authority, covering both urban and rural areas. The paper presents the first clear and extensive evidence of discrimination against girls by all four adult goods employed, and the outcome persists, in various degrees, when reexamined with a lower definition of child age, and with female-headed households. The findings provide support for gender-based policies in child-health and education in Ethiopia.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 4755.

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Date of creation: 01 Oct 2008
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4755

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Keywords: Gender and Law; Gender and Development; Educational Sciences; Youth and Governance; Population Policies;

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  1. Bereket Kebede, 2008. "Intra-Household Allocations In Rural Ethiopia: A Demand Systems Approach," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(1), pages 1-26, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Robin Burgess & Juzhong Zhuang, 2000. "Modernisation and Son Preference," STICERD - Development Economics Papers 29, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  3. 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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  4. Ping Zhang & Arthur van Soest & Xiaodong Gong, 2005. "The effects of the gender of children on expenditure patterns in rural China: a semiparametric analysis," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 509-527. [Downloadable!]
  5. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1986. "On Measuring Child Costs: With Applications to Poor Countries," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 720-44, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Sonia Bhalotra & Cliff Attfield, 1998. "Intrahousehold resource allocation in rural Pakistan: a semiparametric analysis," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(5), pages 463-480. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Valerie Lechene & Martin Browning, 2001. "Caring and Sharing: Tests Between Alternative Models of Intra-Household Allocation," Economics Series Working Papers 070, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 2002. "Consumption, health, gender and poverty," Working Papers 261, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing.. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Leung, Siu Fai, 1991. "A Stochastic Dynamic Analysis of Parental Sex Preferences and Fertility," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 106(4), pages 1063-88, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. John Gibson & Scott Rozelle, 2004. "Is it Better to be a Boy? A Disaggregated Outlay Equivalent Analysis of Gender Bias in Papua New Guinea," The Journal of Development Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 115-136, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Hoddinott, J. & Haddad, L., 1994. "Does Female Income Share Influence Household Expenditures? Evidence from Cote d'Ivoire," Working Papers Series 94.17, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
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  12. Browning, Martin & Francois Bourguignon & Pierre-Andre Chiappori & Valerie Lechene, 1994. "Income and Outcomes: A Structural Model of Intrahousehold Allocation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(6), pages 1067-96, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Ahmad, A. & Morduch, J., 1993. "Identifying Sex Bias in the Allocation of Household Resources: Evidence from Linked Household Surveys from Bangladesh," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1636, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
  14. Case, Anne & Lin, I-Fen & McLanahan, Sara, 2000. "How Hungry Is the Selfish Gene?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(466), pages 781-804, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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