Is the Allocation of Resources within the Household Efficient? New Evidence from a Randomized Experiment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bobonis, Gustavo J.
• 署名单位: University of Toronto
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/600076
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 453-503
• 关键词: INTRAHOUSEHOLD ALLOCATIONS; instrumental variables; MODEL; progresa; demand; income; POOR

摘要

I study whether households make Pareto-efficient intrahousehold resource allocation decisions. Combining randomized variation in women's income generated by the evaluation of the Mexican PROGRESA program with variation attributable to localized rainfall shocks as distribution factors in the collective model, I find evidence favoring Pareto optimality. More specifically, female-specific income changes have positive effects on children's goods expenditures, whereas changes due to rainfall shocks have a smaller influence on household public goods expenditures. The evidence is consistent with female partners having greater sensitivity to own-income changes and norms that oblige women to devote their earnings to meet collective consumption needs.