Family policy, intrahousehold bargaining, and child health

BORGA, Liyousew

doi:10.1111/rode.12970

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Family policy, intrahousehold bargaining, and child health

BORGA, Liyousew

2023 • In Review of Development Economics

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https://hdl.handle.net/10993/54394

DOI
10.1111/rode.12970

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Keywords :

intrahousehold allocation; difference-in-differences estimation; women empowerment

Abstract :

[en] This study examines the effects of an exogenous change in family policy in Ethiopia on women empowerment and the allocation of resources toward child health. Empowerment is formalized as an unobserved latent variable based on a large set of questions pertaining to women's autonomy and decision-making power. Exploiting the time and regional variation in the implementation of the law, the study finds that early implementation of the reform increases women's access to information, literacy and education levels, and their assertiveness toward family planning and domestic violence. In addition, more decision power in the hands of women is found to have a positive impact on investments in the health and nutrition of children. The findings suggest that factors that do not enter the individual's preferences may affect outcomes for individuals and emphasize the role of intrahousehold heterogeneity. The results are robust to a battery of validity and specification checks.

Disciplines :

Special economic topics (health, labor, transportation...)
Social economics

Author, co-author :

BORGA, Liyousew ; University of Luxembourg ; Luxembourg Institute of Health - LIH

External co-authors :

Language :

English

Title :

Family policy, intrahousehold bargaining, and child health

Publication date :

10 January 2023

Journal title :

Review of Development Economics

ISSN :

1363-6669

eISSN :

1467-9361

Publisher :

Blackwell, Oxford, United Kingdom

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBilu :

since 13 February 2023

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