He Says, She Says: Spousal Disagreement in Survey Measures of Bargaining Power

Measures of control over assets and participation in household decisions are often used as indicators of bargaining power. Yet spouses do not necessarily provide the same responses to questions about these topics. Using household survey data from Bangladesh, we examine differences in spouses’ answers to questions regarding women’s involvement as asset owners and decision makers and develop a model to understand what these differences tell us about household behavior. Disagreement is substantial and systematic; women are more likely than men to say that women own assets and are involved in decision-making. These patterns suggest the presence of asymmetric information in the household in the form of hidden assets or decisions. Finally, correlational analysis shows that when women claim their involvement but men do not include them, there is positive association with good outcomes for women but to a lesser extent than when husbands agree that their wives are involved.