Don’t tell on me: Experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households
Although most theoretical models of household decision making assume perfect information, empirical studies suggest that information asymmetries can have large impacts on resource allocation. I demonstrate the importance of these asymmetries in transnational households, where physical distance betwe...
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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Elsevier
2015
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151359 |
| _version_ | 1855519085623771136 |
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| author | Ambler, Kate |
| author_browse | Ambler, Kate |
| author_facet | Ambler, Kate |
| author_sort | Ambler, Kate |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Although most theoretical models of household decision making assume perfect information, empirical studies suggest that information asymmetries can have large impacts on resource allocation. I demonstrate the importance of these asymmetries in transnational households, where physical distance between family members can make information barriers especially acute. I implement an experiment among migrants in Washington, DC, and their families in El Salvador that examines how information asymmetries can have strategic and inadvertent impacts on remittance decisions. Migrants make an incentivized decision over how much of a cash windfall to remit, and recipients decide how they will spend a remittance. Migrants strategically send home less when their choice is not revealed to recipients. Recipients make spending choices closer to migrants' preferences when the migrants' preferences are shared, regardless of whether or not the spending choices are revealed to the migrants, suggesting that recipients' choices are inadvertently affected by imperfect information. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace151359 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1513592025-02-24T06:48:33Z Don’t tell on me: Experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households Ambler, Kate intrahousehold relations remittances households resource allocation information exchange Although most theoretical models of household decision making assume perfect information, empirical studies suggest that information asymmetries can have large impacts on resource allocation. I demonstrate the importance of these asymmetries in transnational households, where physical distance between family members can make information barriers especially acute. I implement an experiment among migrants in Washington, DC, and their families in El Salvador that examines how information asymmetries can have strategic and inadvertent impacts on remittance decisions. Migrants make an incentivized decision over how much of a cash windfall to remit, and recipients decide how they will spend a remittance. Migrants strategically send home less when their choice is not revealed to recipients. Recipients make spending choices closer to migrants' preferences when the migrants' preferences are shared, regardless of whether or not the spending choices are revealed to the migrants, suggesting that recipients' choices are inadvertently affected by imperfect information. 2015-03-01 2024-08-01T02:56:51Z 2024-08-01T02:56:51Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151359 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153756 Open Access Elsevier Ambler, Kate. 2015. Don’t tell on me: Experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households. Journal of Development Economics 113(March 2015): 52-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2014.11.001 |
| spellingShingle | intrahousehold relations remittances households resource allocation information exchange Ambler, Kate Don’t tell on me: Experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households |
| title | Don’t tell on me: Experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households |
| title_full | Don’t tell on me: Experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households |
| title_fullStr | Don’t tell on me: Experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households |
| title_full_unstemmed | Don’t tell on me: Experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households |
| title_short | Don’t tell on me: Experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households |
| title_sort | don t tell on me experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households |
| topic | intrahousehold relations remittances households resource allocation information exchange |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151359 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT amblerkate donttellonmeexperimentalevidenceofasymmetricinformationintransnationalhouseholds |