Why Are Older Women Missing in India? The Age Profile of Bargaining Power and Poverty

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Calvi, Rossella
• 署名单位: Rice University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/706983
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 2453-2501
• 关键词: COLLECTIVE HOUSEHOLD MODELS; EXCESS FEMALE MORTALITY; BODY-MASS INDEX; INHERITANCE RIGHTS; Intrahousehold allocation; intertemporal behavior; MATERNAL SURVIVAL; child health; gender bias; consumption

摘要

Almost half of missing women in India are of postreproductive ages. Can intrahousehold gender inequality and asymmetry in poverty explain a portion of these missing women? Using a natural experiment, I link women's intrahousehold bargaining power to their mortality risk. Using a structural household model, I estimate the age profile of women's bargaining power and construct women's relative poverty rates. I find that women's bargaining power declines with age, with older women's poverty rates closely matching their mortality rates by age. This suggests that many missing women might be accounted for by measuring poverty at the individual rather than the household level.