Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP11464
Authors: Uzma Afzal; Giovanna D'Adda; Marcel Fafchamps; Farah Said
Abstract: Theoretical and empirical work on intra-household decision making captureempowerment through bargaining weights given to individual preferences, andinfer such weights from household consumption allocations. In this paper wetest two key hypotheses underlying this work: first, that spousal influenceis the same for all private consumption goods; and second, that women havepent up demand for pure agency. We use data from a survey and a novellaboratory experiment implemented with adult couples in Pakistan. We findthat women's influence on household decisions is decreasing in theimportance of the decision. We find no evidence that women have pent updemand for agency. Instead, women are less willing to pay for agency whenfacing an unknown man. We interpret this evidence as suggesting that womenin our study population have internalized gender norms, and that these normsregulate interactions between genders most strongly outside of thehousehold. We also find little evidence, within our experimental setting,that willingness to pay for agency is affected by the instrumental value ofagency.
Keywords: empowerment; agency; sharing rule; consumption; intrahousehold efficiency
JEL Codes: D13; O15
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| importance of the decision (D79) | women's influence on household decisions (D13) |
| gender norms (J16) | women's demand for agency (J29) |
| interaction with unknown man (Y70) | women's willingness to pay for agency (J16) |
| role within the household (D13) | women's decision-making power (J16) |
| household structure (J12) | female heads of households' agency (J12) |
| gender norms (J16) | decision-making dynamics within households (D13) |