To invest or not to invest in sanitation: The role of intra-household gender differences in perceptions and bargaining power
利用随机对照试验数据，研究夫妻对卫生设施成本和收益的认知差异如何影响家庭投资决策，发现妻子参与决策时认知差异显著影响贷款获取和厕所改造。
We exploit novel data collected within a randomized controlled trial of a sanitation microcredit intervention to study how intra-household gender differences in perceptions of costs and benefits of sanitation impact investment decisions. We show that – as long as the wife is involved in household decision-making – the intra-household differences in perceptions we document influence borrowing and investments: uptake of the sanitation loan is higher among households where the wife has higher benefit perception, whereas successful conversion to a toilet depends on differences in monetary cost perceptions. The estimated effects are consistent with the predictions of a model of intra-household decision-making.