Spousal Control and Intra-household Decision Making: An Experimental Study in the Philippines

Nava Ashraf

American Economic Review, 2009, vol. 99, issue 4, 1245-77

Abstract: I elicit causal effects of spousal observability and communication on financial choices of married individuals in the Philippines. When choices are private, men put money into their personal accounts. When choices are observable, men commit money to consumption for their own benefit. When required to communicate, men put money into their wives' account. These strong treatment effects on men, but not women, appear related more to control than to gender: men whose wives control household savings respond more strongly to the treatment and women whose husbands control savings exhibit the same response. Changes in information and communication interact with underlying control to produce mutable gender-specific outcomes. (JEL D13, D14, J12, J16, O15)

JEL-codes: D13 D14 J12 J16 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.99.4.1245
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (350)

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