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Male Wages and Female Welfare: Private Markets, Public Goods, and Intrahousehold Inequality

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  • Ghosh, Suman
  • Kanbur, Ravi

Abstract

Can an increase in male wages make the woman in the family, or even the whole family, worse off? On the face of it, this seems paradoxical, since the overall resources of the household are improved by the wage increase. This paper shows that the chain reactions set in motion by such a wage increase in labor markets can end up by making not only the woman but the whole family worse off because of the interactions between intrahousehold public goods, extrahousehold public goods, and the outcomes in conventional labor markets. The key is specialization of males and females in different activities, the public goods characteristics of some of these activities, and the effects of the outside options defined by these activities on intrahousehold bargaining.

Suggested Citation

  • Ghosh, Suman & Kanbur, Ravi, 2002. "Male Wages and Female Welfare: Private Markets, Public Goods, and Intrahousehold Inequality," Working Papers 127292, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:cudawp:127292
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.127292
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    Cited by:

    1. Samantha Watson, 2012. "Formalizing the Informal Economy: Women’s Autonomous Self-Employment in Rural South India," Working Papers id:4784, eSocialSciences.
    2. Marenya, Paswel & Kassie, Menale & Tostao, Emilio, 2015. "Fertilizer use on individually and jointly managed crop plots in Mozambique," Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security (Agri-Gender), Africa Centre for Gender, Social Research and Impact Assessment, vol. 1(2).
    3. Xincheng Zhu & Yulin Liu & Xin Fang, 2022. "Revisiting the Sustainable Economic Welfare Growth in China: Provincial Assessment Based on the ISEW," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 279-306, July.
    4. Machina, Henry & Ngoma, Hambulo & Kuteya, Aukland, 2017. "Gendered impacts of agricultural subsidies in Zambia," MPRA Paper 87099, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Kanbur, Ravi, 2002. "Education, Empowerment, and Gender Inequalities," Working Papers 127300, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    6. Kanbur, Ravi, 2009. "Poverty and Distribution: Twenty Years Ago and Now," Working Papers 48918, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.

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