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| The Intra-Household allocations of resources: Cross-Cultural Tests,
Methodological Innovations and Policy Implications |
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In this project, financed jointly by the UK's ESRC and its Department
for International Development (DfID) we are using experimental methods
combined with household surveys and ethnographic research to test
theories of intra-household allocation. The research is organised
around one broad theme: the experimental investigation of allocation
norms across contexts in which conjugal relations differ and the
consequential implications for household models and development
policies. |
Here's
a brief
movie of Arjan's
explanation of the experiment to participants in
Sironko, Uganda. |
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Joe Hill
School of International Development University of East Anglia |
Cecile Jackson
Professor of Development Studies, School of International Development, University of East Anglia |
Bereket Kebede
Senior Lecturer in Economics, School of International Development University of East Anglia |
Alistair Munro
Professor of Economics, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan |
Nitya Rao
Senior Lecturer in Gender Analysis and Development, School of International Development, University of East Anglia |
Marcela Tarazona Gomez
Senior Research Associate, School of International Development University of East Anglia |
Arjan Verschoor
Reader in Economics, School of International Development, University of East Anglia |
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Matthew Osborne
School of International Development, University of East Anglia |
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We aim to
contribute to a fuller understanding of the unequal distribution of
welfare that results from intra-household allocation processes. Our
second aim is methodological: to improve the value of economic
experiments in a development policy context, in what is a new area, on
the boundaries of experimental economics, development studies and
anthropology..
Building on our initial work in Uganda, we are conducting research at
nine sites in four areas in three countries, selected because they
provide a variety of cultural and socio-economic contexts across which
intra-household distribution regimes are likely to differ. In eight
sites we will run multiple experiments using married couples to test
key theories of the household. Alongside the experiments and using the
same participants we will implement socio-economic surveys in order to
link behaviour within the experiments to measurable attributes of the
society in which they take place. For a sub-sample of participants in
each location we will also conduct in-depth follow-up interviews,
designed to provide a critical perspective on the experimental methods
and to elucidate the forms of conjugality, for explanatory purposes, of
the participants. Finally, to test the external validity of our
methods, in one India site we are running a more natural field
experiment.
As we obtain results from the project we will post further information and papers here.
More information about our experiment locations can be obtained by clicking on the map below.
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