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

Author: Ashraf, Nava

Source: The American Economic Review, Volume 99, Number 4, September 2009 , pp. 1245-1277(33)

Publisher: American Economic Association

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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.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1257/aer.99.4.1245

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