Research
Research
Job Market Paper
Who Needs to Know? Intra-household Differences in Responses to Health Information (with T.V. Ninan)
Supported by Weiss Fund
Exposure to household air pollution from cooking with solid fuels is a major health risk in many low- and middle-income settings, particularly for women. This paper examines whether providing information about these risks changes beliefs and behaviors, and whether the identity of the information recipient within the household matters. We test this using a cluster randomized controlled trial with 2,000 households in rural India, where we inform either the (male) household head or the (female) primary cook about the actual health risks of cooking with solid fuels. Sixteen weeks after the intervention, we find that information provision changes primary cooks’ beliefs by 0.21 standard deviation but not household heads’. Despite the increase in awareness, we find no average effect on fuel use. We find that less empowered women updated their beliefs more but did not change behavior, consistent with limited intra-household bargaining power. In contrast, more educated primary cooks, who are not necessarily more empowered in our setting, both updated their beliefs more and reduced solid fuel use at the intensive margin. Together, these findings suggest that both low salience of information and low bargaining power of women limit the effect of the information intervention on household fuel choice, while education enables primary cooks to act on new information along margins that may not require explicit bargaining with the household head.
Work in Progress
Pilot complete (supported by PEDL) , seeking funding for RCT
This project investigates whether cross-cultural social interactions can enhance women’s intra-household bargaining power and improve the business performance of female microentrepreneurs in Foumbot, Cameroon. We focus on two neighboring tribes - the Bamoun and Bamileke - that differ markedly in gender norms and women’s autonomy. Using a randomized controlled trial with 1,200 married female microentrepreneurs, we will test whether incentivized social interactions between women from these groups can shift perceptions about gender roles, change control over household resources, and ultimately affect their business outcomes.
Unintended Effects of a Multifaceted Intervention to Empower Young Women in India.
This paper examines the effects of a multifaceted government program aimed at empowering adolescent girls in India through supplemental nutrition, health check ups and life-skills and vocational training. Using a difference-in-differences design, I find that while the intervention improved girls’ health outcomes, it reduced their years of education. The decline is driven by earlier marriage rather than labor market participation, suggesting a potential marriage market channel wherein improved health increased girls’ perceived marriageability, leading to earlier marriage and school exit.