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The Impact of Household Shocks on Domestic Violence: Evidence from Tanzania

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  • Olukorede Abiona
  • Martin Foureaux Koppensteiner

Abstract

In this paper, we study the effects of household shocks on the incidence of domestic violence (DV) using a unique set of microdata from the World Bank’s Living Standard Measurement Survey for Tanzania. We use idiosyncratic variation in rainfall as an exogenous shock to Tanzanian households and control for a large set of potential confounding variables on the individual, household and community levels, while exploiting intra-and inter-community rainfall variation for identification. We find that rainfall shocks substantially increase the likelihood of the DV incidence in the household. A one standard deviation negative rainfall shock increases the incidence of domestic violence by about 18.8 percentage points compared to baseline for wives. We furthermore show that rainfall shocks have an effect on physical violence, while we do not find an effect on severe physical or sexual abuse, which is consistent with the strategic use of violence. Estimates from non-linear specifications reveal that the overall effects are driven by droughts rather than floods. We furthermore show that effects are more pronounced for poorer households. In addition, we also provide evidence that female empowerment mitigates the impact of rainfall shocks on violence

Suggested Citation

  • Olukorede Abiona & Martin Foureaux Koppensteiner, 2016. "The Impact of Household Shocks on Domestic Violence: Evidence from Tanzania," Discussion Papers in Economics 16/14, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    • Handle: RePEc:lec:leecon:16/14
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    Cited by:

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    3. Semih Tumen & Hakan Ulucan, 2024. "Empowered or impoverished: the impact of panic buttons on domestic violence," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1423-1459, December.
    4. Díaz, Juan-José & Saldarriaga, Victor, 2023. "A drop of love? Rainfall shocks and spousal abuse: Evidence from rural Peru," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    5. Olukorede Abiona, 2017. "Adverse Effects of Early Life Extreme Precipitation Shocks on Short-term Health and Adulthood Welfare Outcomes," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 1229-1254, November.
    6. Bo Yang & Xiangnan Wang & Tong Wu & Weihua Deng, 2023. "Reducing farmers' poverty vulnerability in China: The role of digital financial inclusion," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1445-1480, August.
    7. Roeckert, Julian & Krähnert, Kati & Hoffmann, Roman, 2024. "Extreme weather events and violence against children," Ruhr Economic Papers 1094, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    8. Guimbeau, Amanda & Ji, Xinde James & Menon, Nidhiya, 2024. "Climate Shocks, Intimate Partner Violence, and the Protective Role of Climate-Resilience Projects," IZA Discussion Papers 17529, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Domestic violence; household shocks; rainfall; Tanzania.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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