Feed the Children
44 Pages Posted: 22 Sep 2021
There are 2 versions of this paper
Feed the Children
Date Written: August 2021
Abstract
To understand the household decision-making process regarding food expenditures for children in poor households in Nairobi, we conduct an experiment with 424 married couples. In the experiment, the spouses (individually and jointly) allocated money between themselves and nutritious meals for one of their children. First, we find strong empirical support for individual rationality and cooperative behavior. Second, our results suggest that women do not have stronger preferences for children's meals than men. Third, the spouses' respective bargaining positions derived from consumption patterns strongly correlate with more traditional indicators. Finally, we document significant heterogeneity both between individuals and intra-household decision processes.
Keywords: children, collective model, Experiment, Intra-household allocation, Kenya
JEL Classification: C14, C90, D13
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation