Intra-Household Negotiation in Ivory Coast : Experimental Evidence from Rural Areas

Is the impact of women's bargaining power on the welfare of the household always positive? We address this question by developing a novel experimental measure of bargaining power over family expenditures in Ivory Coast and studying its determinants. We find that men prioritise food expenditures, women prioritise the transfers to parents and the two of them show similar revealed preferences with respect to educational expenditures. The bargaining power of the woman over the three categories of expenditures of interest is correlated with the education of the wife, the income of the husband and the bride price. The results contribute to the debate on the superior concern of the woman about child welfare and could have interesting policy implications