Only Mine or All Ours: Do Stronger Entitlements Affect Altruistic Choices in the Household. (March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dasgupta, Utteeyo; Mani, Subha
• Is Part Of: World development. Volume 67(2015)
• Page Start: 363
• Page End: 375
• Publication Date: 2015-03
• Subjects: extra-lab experiment -- household decision-making -- entitlement -- gender -- social norm survey; Economic history -- 1990- -- Periodicals; Economic assistance -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; 330.9
• DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.10.021
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-750X

Abstract

Highlights: Altruistic choices of husbands and wives are investigated. Choices observed under two treatments: earning with effort and earning without effort. Women's altruistic choices are independent of the treatment. Men exhibit stronger preference for the private consumption in the effort treatment. Observed choices are consistent with social norms. Summary: We introduce a novel allocation game to investigate the role of entitlements in household decision-making. Subjects can allocate their earnings on joint consumption good, or on gender-specific private consumption good. Subjects' consumption choices are observed under two treatments: earning with effort, and earning without effort. Women's choices for the joint consumption good in the household remain largely independent of the treatment. In contrast, men exhibit a stronger preference for private consumption good in the effort treatment. Additionally, using a survey we find that the observed choices in the experiment are consistent with existing social norms in our subject population.