Working Paper: NBER ID: w26294
Authors: Erica M. Field; Rohini Pande; Natalia Rigol; Simone G. Schaner; Charity Troyer Moore
Abstract: Can greater control over earned income incentivize women to work and influence gender norms? In collaboration with Indian government partners, we provided rural women with individual bank accounts and randomly varied whether their wages from a public workfare program were directly deposited into these accounts or into the male household head’s account (the status quo). Women in a random subset of villages were also trained on account use. In the short run, relative to women just offered bank accounts, those who also received direct deposit and training increased their labor supply in the public and private sectors. In the long run, gender norms liberalized: women who received direct deposit and training became more accepting of female work, and their husbands perceived fewer social costs to having a wife who works. These effects were concentrated in households with otherwise lower levels of, and stronger norms against, female work. Women in these households also worked more in the long run and became more empowered. These patterns are consistent with models of household decision-making in which increases in bargaining power from greater control over income interact with, and influence, gender norms.
Keywords: Women's labor supply; Gender norms; Financial control; Randomized controlled trial; India
JEL Codes: J16; J22; O1
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Direct deposit and training (M53) | increased labor supply (J20) |
| Direct deposit and training (M53) | increased labor supply (socially constrained women) (J49) |
| Direct deposit and training (M53) | increased banking autonomy (E58) |
| Direct deposit and training (M53) | increased empowerment (I24) |
| Direct deposit and training (M53) | more progressive gender norms (J16) |
| Direct deposit and training (M53) | more accepting views about female work (women) (J16) |
| Direct deposit and training (M53) | liberalized perceived norms (men) (P37) |