Spousal control and efficiency of intra-household decision making: Experiments among married couples in India, Ethiopia and Nigeria

Verschoor, Arjan, Kebede, Bereket ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4163-6614, Munro, Alistair and Tarazona, Marcela (2019) Spousal control and efficiency of intra-household decision making: Experiments among married couples in India, Ethiopia and Nigeria. European Journal of Development Research, 31 (4). 1171–1196. ISSN 0957-8811

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Abstract

Given the importance of the household as a resource allocation mechanism, considerable interest exists in its efficiency. Most of the non-experimental evidence for inefficiency comes from West African farm households in which husbands and wives pursue separate productive activities. Using experiments, we test for efficiency of spouses’ resource allocation decisions in a range of household types. In North India, we selected households that are unified, in northern Nigeria households characterised by separate spheres of economic decision making. Our other sites occupy carefully selected intermediate positions on the spectrum from unitary to separate-spheres household types. We find that, the more separate is decision making in real life, the less efficient is resource allocation in the experiments. Moreover, female control of resource allocation tends to lower efficiency, in contrast to male control. The exception is a site in northern Nigeria where female control of resource allocation is well established.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development) Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Gender and Development Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Impact Evaluation Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural and Experimental Development Economics
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	11 Feb 2019 09:30
Last Modified:	18 Jun 2026 18:04
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/69900
DOI:	10.1057/s41287-019-00206-6

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