To defer or to differ: Experimental evidence on the role of cash transfers in Nigerian couples’ decision–making
We conduct an original lab-in-the-field experiment on the decision-making process of married couples over the allocation of rival and non-rival household goods. The experiment measures individual preferences over allocations and traces the process of deferral, consultation, communication and accommo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168563 |
| _version_ | 1855527868536193024 |
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| author | Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab Fafchamps, Marcel Goldstein, Markus Leonard, Kenneth L. Papineni, Sreelakshmi |
| author_browse | Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab Fafchamps, Marcel Goldstein, Markus Leonard, Kenneth L. Papineni, Sreelakshmi |
| author_facet | Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab Fafchamps, Marcel Goldstein, Markus Leonard, Kenneth L. Papineni, Sreelakshmi |
| author_sort | Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | We conduct an original lab-in-the-field experiment on the decision-making process of married couples over the allocation of rival and non-rival household goods. The experiment measures individual preferences over allocations and traces the process of deferral, consultation, communication and accommodation by which couples implement these preferences. We find few differences in individual preferences over allocations of goods. However, wives and husbands have strong preferences over process: women prefer to defer decisions to their husbands even when deferral is costly and is not observed by the husband; men rarely defer under any condition. Our study follows a randomised controlled trial that ended a year earlier and gave large cash transfers over eighteen months to half of the women in the study. We estimate the effect of treatment on the demand for agency among women and find that the receipt of cash transfers does not change women’s bargaining process except in a secret condition when the decision to defer is shrouded from her husband. This suggests that the cash transfer to women increases their demand for agency, but does not change the intrahousehold balance of power enough to allow them to express it publicly. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace168563 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| publisherStr | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1685632025-10-26T12:55:15Z To defer or to differ: Experimental evidence on the role of cash transfers in Nigerian couples’ decision–making Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab Fafchamps, Marcel Goldstein, Markus Leonard, Kenneth L. Papineni, Sreelakshmi cash transfers decision making marriage gender households resource allocation We conduct an original lab-in-the-field experiment on the decision-making process of married couples over the allocation of rival and non-rival household goods. The experiment measures individual preferences over allocations and traces the process of deferral, consultation, communication and accommodation by which couples implement these preferences. We find few differences in individual preferences over allocations of goods. However, wives and husbands have strong preferences over process: women prefer to defer decisions to their husbands even when deferral is costly and is not observed by the husband; men rarely defer under any condition. Our study follows a randomised controlled trial that ended a year earlier and gave large cash transfers over eighteen months to half of the women in the study. We estimate the effect of treatment on the demand for agency among women and find that the receipt of cash transfers does not change women’s bargaining process except in a secret condition when the decision to defer is shrouded from her husband. This suggests that the cash transfer to women increases their demand for agency, but does not change the intrahousehold balance of power enough to allow them to express it publicly. 2025-06-30 2025-01-06T21:29:22Z 2025-01-06T21:29:22Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168563 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152230 Limited Access Oxford University Press Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Fafchamps, Marcel; Goldstein, Markus; Leonard, Kenneth L.; and Papineni, Sreelakshmi. 2025. To defer or to differ: Experimental evidence on the role of cash transfers in Nigerian couples’ decision–making. The Economic Journal 135(669): 1536–1574. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueae117 |
| spellingShingle | cash transfers decision making marriage gender households resource allocation Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab Fafchamps, Marcel Goldstein, Markus Leonard, Kenneth L. Papineni, Sreelakshmi To defer or to differ: Experimental evidence on the role of cash transfers in Nigerian couples’ decision–making |
| title | To defer or to differ: Experimental evidence on the role of cash transfers in Nigerian couples’ decision–making |
| title_full | To defer or to differ: Experimental evidence on the role of cash transfers in Nigerian couples’ decision–making |
| title_fullStr | To defer or to differ: Experimental evidence on the role of cash transfers in Nigerian couples’ decision–making |
| title_full_unstemmed | To defer or to differ: Experimental evidence on the role of cash transfers in Nigerian couples’ decision–making |
| title_short | To defer or to differ: Experimental evidence on the role of cash transfers in Nigerian couples’ decision–making |
| title_sort | to defer or to differ experimental evidence on the role of cash transfers in nigerian couples decision making |
| topic | cash transfers decision making marriage gender households resource allocation |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168563 |
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