Family policy, intrahousehold bargaining, and child health

BORGA, Liyousew

doi:10.1111/rode.12970

Request a copy

Article (Scientific journals)

Family policy, intrahousehold bargaining, and child health

BORGA, Liyousew

2023 • In Review of Development Economics

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

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

DOI
10.1111/rode.12970

Files (1)Send to Details Statistics Bibliography Similar publications

Files

Full Text

Family_policy_RDE.pdf

Publisher postprint (1.48 MB)

Request a copy

All documents in ORBilu are protected by a user license.

Send to

RIS BibTex APA Chicago Permalink X Linkedin

Details

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 :

1467-9361

Publisher :

Blackwell, Oxford, United Kingdom

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBilu :

since 13 February 2023

Statistics

Number of views

40 (0 by Unilu)

Number of downloads

5 (0 by Unilu)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

WoS citations^™

Bibliography

Aizer, A., & Currie, J. (2014). The intergenerational transmission of inequality: Maternal disadvantage and health at birth. Science, 344(6186), 856–861.
Allegretto, S. A., Dube, A., Reich, M., & Zipperer, B. (2013). Credible research designs for minimum wage studies (Technical Report 7638, IZA Discussion Paper). Credible Research Designs for Minimum Wage Studies.
Allendorf, K. (2007). Do women's land rights promote empowerment and child health in Nepal? World Development, 35(11), 1975–1988.
Beegle, K., Frankenberg, E., & Thomas, D. (2001). Bargaining power within couples and use of prenatal and delivery care in Indonesia. Studies in Family Planning, 32(2), 130–146.
Bertrand, M., Duflo, E., & Mullainathan, S. (2004). How much should we trust differences-in-differences estimates? Quarterly Journal of Economics, 119(1), 249–275.
Brassiolo, P. (2016). Domestic violence and divorce law: When divorce threats become credible. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(2), 443–477.
Cameron, A. C., Gelbach, J. B., & Miller, D. L. (2011). Robust inference with multiway clustering. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, 29(2), 238–249.
Cameron, A. C., & Miller, D. L. (2015). A practitioner's guide to cluster-robust inference. Journal of Human Resources, 50(2), 317–372.
Correia, S. (2017). REGHDFE: Stata module to perform linear or instrumental-variable/gmm regression absorbing multiple levels of fixed effects Statistical Software Components s457874, Boston College Department of Economics. Retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/c/boc/bocode/s457874.html. Accessed August 6, 2020.
CSA. (2017). Ethiopia demographic and health survey 2016. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: CSA and ICF. Retrieved from http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR328/FR328.pdf. Accessed October 15, 2019.
CSA. (2021). Labour Force and Migration Survey Key Findings. Central Statistics Agency. Retrieved from http://www.statsethiopia.gov.et/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Final-2021-LABOUR-FORCE-AND-MIGRATION-SURVEY_Key-finding-Report-.17AUG2021.pdf. Accessed November 20, 2022.
Deininger, K., Goyal, A., & Nagarajan, H. (2013). Women's inheritance rights and intergenerational transmission of resources in India. Journal of Human Resources, 48(1), 114–141.
Dinkelman, T. (2011). The effects of rural electrification on employment: New evidence from South Africa. American Economic Review, 101(7), 3078–3108.
Doss, C. (2013). Intrahousehold bargaining and resource allocation in developing countries. The World Bank Research Observer, 28(1), 52–78.
Dube, A., Lester, T. W., & Reich, M. (2010). Minimum wage effects across state borders: Estimates using contiguous counties. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(4), 945–964.
Dube, A., Lester, T. W., & Reich, M. (2016). Minimum wage shocks, employment flows, and labor market frictions. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(3), 663–704.
Duflo, E. (2001). Schooling and labor market consequences of school construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an unusual policy experiment. The American Economic Review, 91(4), 795–813.
Duflo, E. (2003). Grandmothers and granddaughters: Old-age pensions and intrahousehold allocation in South Africa. The World Bank Economic Review, 17(1), 1–25.
Duflo, E. (2012). Women empowerment and economic development. Journal of Economic Literature, 50(4), 1051–1079.
Fafchamps, M., Kebede, B., & Quisumbing, A. R. (2009). Intrahousehold welfare in rural Ethiopia. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 71(4), 567–599.
Goodman-Bacon, A. (2021). Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing. Journal of Econometrics, 225(2), 254–277.
Gray, J. S. (1998). Divorce-law changes, household bargaining, and married women's labor supply. The American Economic Review, 88(3), 628–642.
Hallward-Driemeier, M., & Gajigo, O. (2015). Strengthening economic rights and women's occupational choice: The impact of reforming Ethiopia's family law. World Development, 70, 260–273.
Havnes, T., & Mogstad, M. (2011). Money for nothing? Universal child care and maternal employment. Journal of Public Economics, 95(11), 1455–1465.
Imai, K. S., Annim, S. K., Kulkarni, V. S., & Gaiha, R. (2014). Women's empowerment and prevalence of stunted and underweight children in rural India. World Development, 62, 88–105.
Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women's empowerment. Development and Change, 30(3), 435–464.
Khandker, S. R., Samad, H. A., Ali, R., & Barnes, D. F. (2014). Who benefits most from rural electrification? Evidence in India. The Energy Journal, 35(2), 75–98.
Kumar, N., & Quisumbing, A. R. (2012). Beyond “Death Do Us Part”: The long-term implications of divorce perceptions on women's well-being and child schooling in rural Ethiopia. World Development, 40(12), 2478–2489.
La Ferrara, E., & Milazzo, A. (2017). Customary norms, inheritance, and human capital: Evidence from a reform of the matrilineal system in Ghana. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 9(4), 166–185.
Lee-Rife, S. M. (2010). Women's empowerment and reproductive experiences over the lifecourse. Social Science & Medicine, 71(3), 634–642.
Malhotra, A., & Schuler, S. R. (2005). Women's empowerment as a variable in international development. Measuring Empowerment: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives, 1(1), 71–88.
Martinez, C. (2013). Intrahousehold allocation and bargaining power: Evidence from Chile. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 61(3), 577–605.
Mookerjee, S. (2019). Gender-neutral inheritance laws, family structure, and women's status in India. The World Bank Economic Review, 33(2), 498–515.
Perez-Heydrich, C., Warren, J. L., Burgert, C. R., & Emch, M. (2013). Guidelines on the use of DHS GPS data. Calverton: ICF International.
Pitt, M. M., Khandker, S. R., & Cartwright, J. (2006). Empowering women with micro finance: Evidence from Bangladesh. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 54(4), 791–831.
Pitt, M. M., Khandker, S. R., Chowdhury, O. H., & Millimet, D. L. (2003). Credit programs for the poor and the health status of children in rural Bangladesh. International Economic Review, 44(1), 87–118.
Quisumbing, A. R., & Maluccio, J. A. (2003). Resources at marriage and intrahousehold allocation: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and South Africa. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 65(3), 283–327.
Rangel, M. A. (2006). Alimony rights and intrahousehold allocation of resources: Evidence from Brazil. The Economic Journal, 116(513), 627–658.
Roodman, D., Nielsen, M. Ø., MacKinnon, J. G., & Webb, M. D. (2019). Fast and wild: Bootstrap inference in Stata using boottest. The Stata Journal, 19(1), 4–60.
Roy, S. (2015). Empowering women? Inheritance rights, female education and dowry payments in India. Journal of Development Economics, 114, 233–251.
Rubalcava, L., Teruel, G., & Thomas, D. (2009). Investments, time preferences and public transfers paid to women. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 57(3), 507–538.
Schady, N., & Rosero, J. (2008). Are cash transfers made to women spent like other sources of income? Economics Letters, 101(3), 246–248.
Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. (2006). Bargaining in the shadow of the law: Divorce laws and family distress. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121, 267–288.
WHO. (2006). Who child growth standards: Length/height-for-age, weight-for-age, weight-for-length, weight-for-height and body mass index-for-age: Methods and development (p. 312). Geneva: World Health Organization.
Yount, K. M., Crandall, A., & Cheong, Y. F. (2018). Women's age at first marriage and long-term economic empowerment in Egypt. World Development, 102, 124–134.
Zereyesus, Y. A., Amanor-Boadu, V., Ross, K. L., & Shanoyan, A. (2015). Does women's empowerment in agriculture matter for children's health status? Insights from northern Ghana. Social Indicators Research, 132, 1265–1280.