Labor market opportunities and women's decision making power within households

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Majlesi, Kaveh
• 署名单位: Lund University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.10.002
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 34-47
• 关键词: Labor market opportunities; Bargaining power; household decisions; Trade induced shocks

摘要

Despite the perceived importance of labor market opportunities in shaping married women's outside option, and their bargaining power within households as a result, this link has received very little empirical attention. Using longitudinal data on who makes the decision on a wide range of issues within Mexican households and data from the administrative records of the Mexican Social Security Institute, this paper identifies the effects of relative changes in labor market opportunities for men and women on both working and non-working women's decision making power. I find that increases in labor market opportunities improve women's decision-making power as well as children's health. Using differential labor demand shocks across Mexican industries caused by China's admission to the WTO gives similar results. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.