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The effect of time-saving household appliance ownership on outcomes for children and married women: evidence from India

Author

Listed:
  • Bhargava Smriti

    (Department of Economics, Francis Marion University, Florence, SC, USA)

  • Kerr Amanda

    (Advanced Academic Programs, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, USA)

Abstract

We use microlevel data from the India Human Development Survey to test our hypothesis that ownership of time-saving household appliances results in the following: an increase in employment rates for married women; an increase in school enrollment rates; and a decrease in employment rates for children. We address the concern of endogeneity of appliance ownership by instrumenting household ownership of time-saving appliances by two family-specific time-using household assets and (1) average ownership rate among single women living in the same primary sampling unit (for the adult female sample) or (2) average ownership among households with no children living in the same primary sampling unit (for the child sample). Our results suggest a decrease in married women's and children's employment when ownership of time-saving appliances increases. Disaggregating our measure of employment, we find that married women use time-saving appliances as a substitute for human capital and increase their probability of working in more productive employment outside of the household.

Suggested Citation

  • Bhargava Smriti & Kerr Amanda, 2022. "The effect of time-saving household appliance ownership on outcomes for children and married women: evidence from India," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-42, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:izajlp:v:12:y:2022:i:1:p:42:n:3
    DOI: 10.2478/izajolp-2022-0008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Neff, Daniel & Sen, Kunal & Kling, Veronika, 2012. "The Puzzling Decline in Rural Women's Labor Force Participation in India: A Reexamination," GIGA Working Papers 196, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    2. Kerr, Amanda, 2019. "Household investment in durable appliances and outcomes for children: Evidence from China," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 110-127.
    3. Farzana Afridi & Taryn Dinkelman & Kanika Mahajan, 2018. "Why are fewer married women joining the work force in rural India? A decomposition analysis over two decades," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(3), pages 783-818, July.
    4. Cubas, German, 2016. "Distortions, infrastructure, and female labor supply in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 194-215.
    5. Sue Bowden & Avner Offer, 1994. "Household appliances and the use of time: the United States and Britain since the 1920s," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 47(4), pages 725-748, November.
    6. Tiago V. de V. Cavalcanti & José Tavares, 2008. "Assessing the "Engines of Liberation": Home Appliances and Female Labor Force Participation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(1), pages 81-88, February.
    7. Stephan Klasen & Janneke Pieters, 2015. "What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 449-478.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kirstin Munro, 2025. "Reconsidering the relationship between home appliance ownership and married women’s labor supply: Evidence from Brazil," Working Papers 2509, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

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