Intrahousehold allocations : a review of theories, empirical evidence and policy issues

The early policy-oriented literature on this topic focused on the risks to health and nutrition of women and children, and on differential access to schooling. For example, both the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka issue food stamps to the head female of the household because of concern that the head male may squander the transfer (e.g., by selling the stamps and using cash to purchase alcohol). But not all intrahousehold distributional issues stem from conflicts within the household. For instance, excess female infant and child mortality in south Asia, or higher levels of completed schooling by boys in many African and Asian countries may well result from the joint decisions of fathers and mothers. These decisions may be made in response to greater market opportunities for men, or possibly to girls being more costly to raise, or just from preferences for males. Decisions that bear on differential outcomes within the household are the subject of this review. It begins with the issue of how to model household behavior to account for differential outcomes within the household. The household production model of Becker can be used to do this, but it may be that some of the underlying assumptions are violated, necessitating a broader approach. The study reviews one such approach, the collective household model, which encompasses some game theory approaches as well. It then discusses empirical evidence on a variety of issues related to human resource outcomes and investments, using both the household production model and the collective model. Next, the study turns to evidence of how production relations are affected by intrahousehold distributional issues. Broader policy issues that arise from this discussion are examined in conclusion. Includes references (pp. 47-60). (Author abstract, modified)