Feed the Children

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cherchye, Laurens; Chiappori, Pierre-Andre; De Rock, Bram; Ringdal, Charlotte; Vermeulen, Frederic
• 署名单位: KU Leuven; Columbia University; Universite Libre de Bruxelles
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaf099
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: INTRAHOUSEHOLD DECISION-MAKING; REVEALED PREFERENCE APPROACH; demand; income; allocation; RESOURCES; efficient; tests; identification; BEHAVIOR

摘要

To understand the household decision-making process regarding food expenditures for children in poor households in Nairobi, we conduct an experiment with 424 married and monogamous couples. In the experiment, the spouses (individually and jointly) allocate money between themselves and nutritious meals for one of their children. We propose a novel and simple test to distinguish between cooperative/collective and non-cooperative decision behaviour. We find strong empirical support for the collective model of household consumption. This collective model indicates that the spouses' structural bargaining weights derived from observed consumption patterns strongly correlate with more traditional indicators of power. Furthermore, our results suggest that women do not have stronger preferences for children's meals than men. Finally, we document a significant heterogeneity in both individual preferences and intra-household decision-making processes.