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Income transfers, intra-household resource allocation and marriage markets in rural Mexico

Gustavo J. Bobonis, University of Toronto

This paper develops a test of the unitary intra-household resource allocation model using rainfall variation and quasi-experimental evidence from a conditional cash transfer program to estimate changes in income shares under women's control in poor Mexican rural households. I present evidence that rejects consensus in the allocation process in terms of changes in intra-household resource allocation and marital turnover. Expenditures shares in girls’ and boys’ clothing increased by 10 percent in households where women received cash transfers relative to a comparison group with equivalent income levels. Second, marital union dissolution rates among cash transfers recipients increased by 40 percent over a two-year period, a substantial increase in separation rates among eligible women. Estimates suggest that behavioural responses vary substantially between indigenous and mestizo populations. A review of qualitative and quantitative evidence suggests that social norms and property rights that favour women in indigenous communities may help explain these observed differences.

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Presented in Session 100: Methodologies for data collection and analysis of gender relations