Working Paper: NBER ID: w28049
Authors: Alison Andrew; Orazio Attanasio; Britta Augsburg; Jere Behrman; Monimalika Day; Pamela Jervis; Costas Meghir; Angus Phimister
Abstract: Social connections are fundamental to human wellbeing. We examine the social networks of mothers of young children in rural Odisha, India. Gendered norms around marriage, mobility and work likely shape this group’s opportunities to form and maintain ties. We track 2,170 mothers’ networks over four years and find a high degree of isolation. Wealthier women and women from more-advantaged castes and tribes have smaller networks than their less-advantaged peers, primarily because they know fewer women within their own socioeconomic group. There exists strong, but symmetric, homophily by socioeconomic group. Socioeconomic differences are associated with toilet ownership and labor force participation.
Keywords: social networks; socioeconomic status; isolation; women; India
JEL Codes: D13; D71; O1; O35
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| socioeconomic status (SES) (I24) | number of social connections (Z13) |
| higher socioeconomic status (SES) (I24) | greater isolation (Y50) |
| socioeconomic differences (I24) | variations in social ties (Z13) |
| toilet ownership (R21) | social ties (Z13) |
| labor force participation (J22) | social ties (Z13) |
| higher SES women (I24) | fewer connections (Y50) |