IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/vas/papers/59.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Asset Depletion Among the Poor: Does Gender Matter? The Case of Urban Households in Thailand

Author

Abstract

The paper analytically and empirically examines the issue of gender inequality in household wealth in the form of tangible assets among urban poor households Thailand. It seeks to answer the following questions: (1) is there a gendered pattern of asset ownership between husbands and wives; 2) during times of crises, is there a gendered pattern of asset depletion and 3) does asset depletion impact on men and women differently in regards to their income earnings capabilities? The answers are especially important since asset ownership and access impact the form of coping mechanisms and income earnings of men and women, hence on their individual well-being as well as the longer term well-being of the household. This paper joins in the recent efforts in the literature in investigating gender differences in asset ownership and depletion. In particular, we explore analytically and empirically this type of gender inequality among 135 couples, with and without dependents using quantitative and qualitative data drawn from a random sample of 152 urban, low-income households in Bangkok (Thailand) in 2002. The multi-purpose survey included information at the level of the individual respondent on accumulated tangible or physical assets as well as the status of those owned assets six months later. Both husband and wife were interviewed separately and the data gathered from the multi-visit interviews include pertinent household and individual information, employment, credit as well as household decision making issues, division of tasks and earnings allocation for various expenses. Tobit and probit tests are used to examine the varied factors that may affect the gendered pattern of asset depletion and whether there are any significant differences in asset depletion between men and women in the same households. In addition, two probit models are estimated in order to determine the effects of various individual and household characteristics on the probability of pawning or selling real assets and more specifically, business-related assets . The empirical results demonstrate that, alongside gender equality in employment opportunities and earnings, there is need to raise the importance of and promote advocacy for gender equality in wealth and assets, both public as well as private, and for policy interventions that addresses the gender-wealth gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Floro, Maria & Antonopoulos, Rania, 2004. "Asset Depletion Among the Poor: Does Gender Matter? The Case of Urban Households in Thailand," Vassar College Department of Economics Working Paper Series 59, Vassar College Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:vas:papers:59
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://irving.vassar.edu/VCEWP/VCEWP59.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & de la Briere, Benedicte, 2000. "Women's assets and intrahousehold allocation in rural Bangladesh," FCND briefs 86, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Nelson, Julie A., 1992. "Gender, Metaphor, and the Definition of Economics," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(1), pages 103-125, April.
    3. Frankenberg, Elizabeth & Thomas, Duncan, 2001. "Measuring power," FCND discussion papers 113, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
      • Frankenberg, Elizabeth & Thomas, Duncan, 2001. "Measuring power," FCND briefs 113, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Doss, Cheryl R., 1996. "Women'S Bargaining Power In Household Economic Decisions: Evidence From Ghana," Staff Papers 13517, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    5. Quisumbing, Agnes R., 1994. "Intergenerational transfers in Philippine rice villages : Gender differences in traditional inheritance customs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 167-195, April.
    6. Jianakoplos, Nancy Ammon & Bernasek, Alexandra, 1998. "Are Women More Risk Averse?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(4), pages 620-630, October.
    7. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    8. Ferber, Marianne A. & Nelson, Julie A. (ed.), 1993. "Beyond Economic Man," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226242019, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & McClafferty, Bonnie, 2006. "Using gender research in development: food security in practice," Food security in practice technical guide series 2, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Palsson, Gisli, 1998. "The virtual aquarium: Commodity fiction and cod fishing," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2-3), pages 275-288, February.
    3. repec:dgr:rugsom:96c01 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Fernandez, Antonia & Della Giusta, Marina & Kambhampati, Uma S., 2015. "The Intrinsic Value of Agency: The Case of Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 92-107.
    5. Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Ahmed, Akhter, 2021. "Women's empowerment in agriculture: What role for food security in Bangladesh?," IFPRI book chapters, in: Securing food for all in Bangladesh, chapter 14, pages 483-548, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Camila Uribe Mejía, 2014. "Bancarización y Empoderamiento Femenino," Documentos CEDE 11001, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    7. Ailsa McKay, 2001. "Rethinking Work and Income Maintenance Policy: Promoting Gender Equality Through a Citizens' Basic Income," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 97-118.
    8. Rania Antonopoulos & Maria Sagrario Floro, 2005. "Asset Ownership along Gender Lines: Evidence from Thailand," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_418, Levy Economics Institute.
    9. Marcel Fafchamps & Agnes Quisumbing, 2002. "Marriage and Assortative Matching in Rural Ethiopia," CSAE Working Paper Series 2002-21, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    10. Julie Nelson, 1999. "Of Markets And Martyrs: Is It OK To Pay Well For Care?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(3), pages 43-59.
    11. Julie A. Nelson, 1995. "Feminism and Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 131-148, Spring.
    12. Julie A. Nelson, "undated". "Getting Past "Rational Man/Emotional Woman": How Far Have Research Programs in Happiness and Interpersonal Relations Progressed?," GDAE Working Papers 09-07, GDAE, Tufts University.
    13. Julie Nelson, 2015. "Fearing fear: gender and economic discourse," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 14(1), pages 129-139, June.
    14. Anne Busch & Elke Holst, 2009. "Glass Ceiling Effect and Earnings: The Gender Pay Gap in Managerial Positions in Germany," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 905, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Susan Hanson, 2009. "Changing Places Through Women's Entrepreneurship," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(3), pages 245-267, July.
    16. Julie A. Nelson, "undated". "Care Ethics and Markets: A View from Feminist Economics," GDAE Working Papers 10-02, GDAE, Tufts University.
    17. Floro, Maria & Seguino, Stephanie, 2002. "Gender effects on aggregate saving: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis," MPRA Paper 6541, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Dec 2000.
    18. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Payongayong, Ellen M. & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2004. "Are wealth transfers biased against girls?," FCND discussion papers 186, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    19. Nelson, Julie A., 1997. "Feminism, ecology and the philosophy of economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 155-162, February.
    20. Zdravka, Todorova, 2009. "Employer of Last Resort Policy and Feminist Economics: Social Provisioning and Socialization of Investment," MPRA Paper 16240, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Lecq, Fieke van der, 1996. "Dualism in economic thinking : two views compared," Research Report 96C01, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vas:papers:59. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sean Flynn The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Sean Flynn to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/edvasus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.