Intrahousehold Consumption Allocation and Demand for Agency: A Triple Experimental Investigation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Afzal, Uzma; D'Adda, Giovanna; Fafchamps, Marcel; Said, Farah
• 署名单位: New York University; New York University Abu Dhabi; University of Milan; Stanford University; Lahore School of Economics
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20200672
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 400-444
• 关键词: DECISION-MAKING; asymmetric information; spousal control; income; EFFICIENCY; HEALTH; households; economies; RESOURCES; GENDER

摘要

We conduct lab experiments to investigate demand for consumption agency in married couples from Pakistan. Most subjects are no better at guessing their spouse's preferences than those of a stranger, suggesting that individual executive agency has instrumental value. We find significant evidence of demand for agency in all experiments, varying with the cost and anticipated instrumental benefit of agency. But subjects often make choices incompatible with purely instrumental motives-e.g., paying for agency when knowing their partner assigned them their preferred choice. Female subjects are willing to exert agency even when they have little executive agency within their household.