Work in progress

Delegation in the Household: Theory and Experimental Evidence with Couples, with Jean-Marie Baland, Catherine Guirkinger, and Roberta Ziparo

Experiment underway

Gender norms, couples’ labor supply decisions, and flexibility in working conditions in Colombia, with Luz Magdalena Salas (U. Javeriana) and Ana Maria Diaz (U. Javeriana)

Post-conflict Land Restitution and Deforestation in Colombia, with Laura Peralta (U. Strasbourg, BETA), Philippe Delacote (INRAE, BETA), Kenneth Houngbedji (U.Paris Dauphine, DIAL, IRD), Julien Jacob (BETA, University of Strasbourg

Sharing the Burden or the Burden of Sharing? Intra-Family Redistribution and Personal Savings in Senegal

Social solidarity, especially within the extended family, plays a preponderant role in the context of absent efficient financial markets and low formal public redistribution. This informal redistribution may however induce distortions in resource allocation and accumulation decisions. The present paper investigates the effect of this informal redistribution within the extended family on savings decisions over the life cycle, relying on a rich nationally representative household survey collected in 2006 in Senegal. The intensity of the sharing pressure is captured on the one hand, by the exogenous number of siblings and on the other hand, by the position held among siblings, as measured by the birth rank. Over the life cycle, I find some evidence of delayed reciprocity for firstborn siblings from their younger siblings. For women, this pattern is driven by transfers for ceremonies. Firstborn men achieve lower savings stock even later in life while firstborn women hold more savings the more co-resident sisters they have, but only in savings held outside the household. This is suggestive of a strategic behavior to restrain redistributive obligations.

Sokoura, Mali