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What's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine: Field experiment on income concealing between spouses in India

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  • Castilla, Carolina

Abstract

In this paper, I present results from a field-laboratory experiment in India where individuals in established marriages were randomly given the opportunity to choose to keep money private from their partner, assigned to a complete information, or to a private information treatment. The experiment was designed to test the effect of private information at the time when spouses decide on the amount of resources to bargain over with their partners (pre-bargaining stage) on intra-household allocation. I show that in the presence of asymmetric information 25% of spouses choose to keep (some) money private when given the opportunity, thus reducing the pool that their partners observe. The strategic exploitation of information advantages results in efficiency losses that amount up to 24% of average maximum potential earnings. The analysis suggests the mechanism driving the results is an income-hiding motive, and not alternative explanations such as mental accounting or alternative strategic behaviors.

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  • Castilla, Carolina, 2019. "What's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine: Field experiment on income concealing between spouses in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 125-140.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:137:y:2019:i:c:p:125-140
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.11.009
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    5. Zhi Cao & Arthur Lewbel & Wenchao Li & Junjian Yi, 2024. "Collective Behavior with Information Asymmetry," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 1070, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 31 Aug 2024.
    6. Arslan, Cansın & Gregg, Daniel & Stringer, Randy, 2024. "Hidden income and its impact on expenditure patterns in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
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    8. Zhou, Alex & Mahadeshwar, Ruchi, 2024. "The Impact of Intra-Household Income Hiding on Labor Productivity," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1525, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    9. Hisaki Kono & Tomomi Tanaka, 2019. "Does marriage work as a savings commitment device? Experimental evidence from Vietnam," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, June.
    10. Steinert, Janina Isabel & Vasumati Satish, Rucha & Stips, Felix & Vollmer, Sebastian, 2022. "Commitment or concealment? Impacts and use of a portable saving device: Evidence from a field experiment in urban India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 367-398.
    11. Abbink, Klaus & Islam, Asad & Nguyen, Chau, 2020. "Whose voice matters? An experimental examination of gender bias in intra-household decision-making," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 337-352.
    12. Poh Lin Tan & Jeremy Lim-Soh, 2023. "Access to Ovulation Tests and Strategic Timing of Intercourse in a Low Fertility Context," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-23, February.
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    14. Gazeaud, Jules & Khan, Nausheen & Mvukiyehe, Eric & Sterck, Olivier, 2023. "With or without him? Experimental evidence on cash grants and gender-sensitive trainings in Tunisia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    15. Matthew K. Gnagey & Therese C. Grijalva & Rong Rong, 2018. "Spousal Dictator Game: Household Decisions and Other-Regarding Preferences," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-11, September.
    16. Dan Anderberg & Rachel Cassidy & Anaya Dam & Wendy Janssens & Karlijn Morsink & Anouk van Veldhoven, 2024. "Keeping the Peace while Getting Your Way: Information, Persuasion and Intimate Partner Violence," CESifo Working Paper Series 11133, CESifo.
    17. Siwan Anderson, 2024. "The Complexity of Female Empowerment in India," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 12(1), pages 74-92, April.
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    19. Dan Anderberg & Rachel Cassidy & Wendy Janssens & Anaya Dam & Morsink Karlijn & Anouk van Veldhoven, 2024. "Keeping the peace whilst getting your way: Information, persuasion and intimate partner violence," IFS Working Papers W24/22, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income hiding; Non-cooperative household bargaining; India; Intra-household bargaining; Asymmetric information; Experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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