The intra-household allocation of resources: cross-cultural tests, methodological innovations and policy implications

Lead Research Organisation: University of East Anglia
Department Name: International Development

Abstract

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Description 1. Household decision-making is inefficient and inefficient in predictable ways. In all sites and all experimental treatments, couples rarely make the decisions that would maximise the rewards for the household as a whole.



2. Household efficiency varies systematically with whether husbands and wives earn their incomes, whether the husband or the wife is in charge of household finances, and household structure (e.g. polygamy).



3. Cultural norms about marriage are associated both with household efficiency and inequality of intra-household allocation, suggesting the importance for economists to take culture into account when they devise household models and that the search for a universal model of the household, common in economics, is inappropriate
Exploitation Route They are relevant for policies aimed at women's empowerment
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

 
Description A second presentation at the Tokyo Institute of Technology 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Alistair Munro gave a second presentation at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in January 2010 on the Indian experiments.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description BBL at International Food Policy Research Institute IFPRI 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Marcela Tarazona Gomez: BBL at International Food Policy Research Institute IFPRI, Washington, December 2010. 'Intra-Household Allocation across Continents: An Experimental Investigation'

Decision makers better informed
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description BBL at the World Bank 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Marcela Tarazona Gomez: BBL at the World Bank, Group Coordinating the World Development Report 2012 on Gender, Washington, December 2010. 'Intra-Household Allocation across Continents: An Experimental Investigation'

Decision makers better informed
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description Background report for the 2012 World Development Report on Gender 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Alistair Munro and Marcela Tarazona Gomez wrote an invited background report for the 2012 World Development Report on Gender, summarising our main results and spelling out policy implications

Decision makers better informed
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
 
Description Keynote speaker at workshop at ISS 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Bereket Kebede was invited as keynote speaker to the workshop on "Women's Bargaining Power and Economic Development", Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, The Hague, Netherlands, February 4th, 2011

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Miscellaneous project presentations in 2007 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Alistair Munro talked about the project, as an invited presenter at the interdisciplinary workshop on Social and Moral Norms in Intentional Action University of Oslo, October 2007. He has also made a presentation at Royal Holloway and given an external seminar at the University of Sheffield.

Peers became aware of our initial findings and our methodological contribution
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2007
 
Description Organised workshop at the DSA annual meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact At the Development Studies Association annual meeting at the University of Sussex, September 2007, to promote our work and create links with users and other researchers, we organised a small workshop on Experimental, Ethnographic and Survey Methods for Understanding Sharing within Households. Cecile Jackson, Bereket Kebede, Alistair Munro and Nitya Rao attended from the project team. This stimulating session was chaired by Laurence Haddad and research by Catherine Eckel and her collaborators from the USA (on household experiments in Mexico) was presented, while Erik Sorensen flew in from Amsterdam to talk about his joint work (with Alexander W. Cappelen, Kalle Moene and Bertil Tungodden) comparing fairness norms across cultures. Cecile Jackson and Bereket Kebede presented work from the project team.

Peers became aware of our methodological contribution
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2007
 
Description Paper at Asia-Pacific Economic Science Association Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Alistair Munro gave a conference paper on the Nigerian data at the Asia-Pacific Economic Science Association Meeting in Melbourne, February 2010.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description Paper at University of Tokyo 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact On 17 June 2008, Alistair Munro presented a paper to the Microeconomics Workshop at the Department of Economics, University of Tokyo, which is the leading economics department in Japan.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2008
 
Description Paper at the 25th British Association for South Asian Studies Annual Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Nitya Rao presented a paper drawing on the India data, 'The changing contours of Dalit women's work' at the 25th British Association for South Asian Studies Annual Conference at the University of Southampton, 11-13 April, 2011.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Paper at the American Economic Association Conference in Denver 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Alistair Munro presented a paper on our Nigeria experiments at the American Economic Association Conference in Denver on 7 January 2011. 'The Lion's Share. An Experimental Analysis of Polygamy in Northern Nigeria'

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Paper at the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) of the World Bank 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Bereket Kebede and Marcela Tarazona Gomez were invited by the OECD GENDERNET Secretariat to present our work at a panel on 'Broadening opportunities for development through asset ownership: enhancing women's control over and access to land, property and credit' at the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) of the World Bank, Paris, 30 May 2011.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Paper at the Asia-Pacific Economic Science Association (ESA) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Alistair Munro presented a paper on our India experiments at the Asia-Pacific Economic Science Association (ESA) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 2011. 'Autonomy or Efficiency. An Experiment on Household Decisions in Two Regions of India'

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Paper at the Centre for the Study of African Economies 2011 Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Marcela Tarazona Gomez presented a paper on our Ethiopia experiments at the Centre for the Study of African Economies 2011 Conference, at the University of Oxford, 20-22 March, 2011. 'Intra-household Efficiency in Ethiopia: An Experimental Investigation'

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Paper at the ESA World Meeting 2010 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Marcela Tarazona Gomez presented a paper on our India experiments at the ESA World Meeting 2010, University of Copenhagen, July 8-11, 2010. 'Female autonomy in North and South India: An Experiment'

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description Paper at the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact In August 2007, Vegard Iversen presented a paper on using experiments to test theories of household behaviour at the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi

Peers became aware of our methodology
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2007
 
Description Paper at the International Colloquium on Gender, food and rural development 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Nitya Rao presented a paper on gender and resource rights in India drawing on project data from India at the International Colloquium on Gender, food and rural development at the Graduate Institute of International Development (GIID), Geneva, October 29th 2010.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description Paper at the Sixth Nordic Conference on Behavioural and Experimental Economics 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Bereket Kebede presented a paper on our Ethiopia experiment at the Sixth Nordic Conference on Behavioural and Experimental Economics, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 28-29 October 2011

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Paper at the Southern Economic Association Meetings, Atlanta 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Marcela Tarazona Gomez presented a paper on our Ethiopia experiments at the Southern Economic Association Meetings, Atlanta, November 2010. 'Spousal control and entitlement in intra-household allocation: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia'

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description Paper at the UNU-WIDER Conference on Poverty and Behavioural Economics 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Bereket Kebede presented a paper on our Ethiopia experiments at the UNU-WIDER Conference on Poverty and Behavioural Economics at WIDER, Helsinki, September 2011. 'Intra-household Efficiency in Ethiopia: An Experimental Investigation'

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Paper presented at U de Los Andes, Bogota 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Marcela Tarazona Gomez presented a paper on our Ethiopia experiments at the Economics Department, U de Los Andes, Bogota, November 2010. 'Spousal control and entitlement in intra-household allocation: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia'

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2010
 
Description Paper presented at UEA 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Bereket Kebede and Cecile Jackson presented a paper on the Uganda pilot experiment at an internal seminar at the UEA on October 3rd, 2007.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2007
 
Description Presentation at GRIPS in Japan 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Alistair Munro gave an internal presentation at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Japan in March 2008.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2008
 
Description Presentation at a seminar at the Chief Economist's Office of UK's Department for International Development (DFID) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Arjan Verschoor was invited to present our main results and their policy implications at a seminar at the Chief Economist's Office of UK's Department for International Development (DFID), 24th November 2011

Decision makers better informed
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Presentation at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Cecile Jackson was invited to give a presentation at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Washington for a small meeting in September 2009 to guide their interests in funding research on intra-household allocation issues.

Foundation's interests guided in funding research on intra-household allocation issues
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2009
 
Description Presentation at the Japanese External Trade Organisation (JETO) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact On 26 June 2008, Alistair Munro presented at the Japanese External Trade Organisation (JETO) at the Institute of Development Economics at Chiba. This presentation mainly focused on policy-makers.

Decision makers better informed
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2008
 
Description Presentation at the Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE), 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Bereket Kebede was invited as a senior academic to present findings from our project at the Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE), which brings together all departments of Economics in Scotland, and which organised a forum called the SIRE young researchers' forum (www.sire.ac.uk) on 11 March 2011.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Presentation at the Tokyo Institute of Technology 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Alistair Munro presented findings from our Uganda pilot study at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Department of Social Engineering in February 2009.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2009
 
Description Presentation at the University of Manchester 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Arjan Verschoor was invited to talk about the project at the University of Manchester in November 2008.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2008
 
Description Presentation at the University of Nottingham 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Arjan Verschoor was invited to talk about the project at the University of Nottingham in November 2008.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2008
 
Description Presentation at the University of Reading 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Arjan Verschoor was invited and gave a talk to the University of Reading about the project in February 2008.

Peers became aware of our findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2008