Anu Jose

Working Papers

Income Shocks and Intrahousehold Resource Allocation - Evidence from rural Ethiopia

Abstract: How do income shocks affect intra-household expenditure patterns in agricultural economies? Using rainfall data and household panel data, with responses from both spouses, from rural Ethiopia, we show that a negative household level income shock significantly reduces female expenditures relative to male expenditures (31.4% greater reduction). We specifically explore the channel of female and male labour supply as an explanation behind the observed differentiated impacts on spousal consumption. We find evidence that engaging in off-farm employment provides women with an independent income and allows them to smooth their expenditures during farm income shock. We also find evidence that the wife’s involvement in managing and controlling the household farm, measured as her time spent on the farm relative to the husband, negates the shock-induced gender differential in expenditures. Together, these results highlight gender-specific impacts of household income shocks on consumption and the role female economic opportunities play in negating intra-household impacts of such household shocks.

Manuscript submitted to journal available here.

Joint Accounts in the Fintech Era: How Does Labelling, Transparency and Approval Rules Affect Spousal Financial Decision Making? (with Michael King and Tara Bedi)

Abstract: To understand interactions between mental accounting, spousal control and couple communication, informed by recent innovations in the fin-tech space, we mimicked practical iterations of income type and spousal monitoring in a pre-registered lab-in-the-field experiment with 1,008 couples in Kolkata, India. Our findings highlight the importance of female labour market participation and the mental accounting of earned resources. Earned income by wives was allocated to a greater extent to accounts over which she has more control. Labelling newly acquired resources for household purposes in individual accounts for both wife and husband did not alter expenditure patterns, indicating a failure of the mental accounting of household resources in individual accounts. Spousal visibility of male decision-making ensures they allocate more towards the collective and away from themselves. Conversely, spousal transparency and communication did not alter wives allocation patterns, but such innovations came at a cost for the less empowered: in households where wife has low control over money, or is more risk averse, visibility of her decisions by husband or an approval requirement from her husband for her decisions leads her to allocate more to accounts he has control in. Our findings provide important insights for the design and delivery of social protection programmes, and suggests the existence of potential welfare gains of shared, or joint, financial products for the management of household resources.

Working paper available here.

Work in Progress

Experimental evidence on Buy Now Pay Later usage and understanding (with Christopher Palmer, Yvonne McCarthy, Michael King and Jane Kelly)

Abstract: Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) has recently become one of the popular innovations in the Fintech payment sector, which allows consumers to spread the cost of a product over a number of months, generally, without interest. While this payment feature offers flexibility to a number of consumers, there is a growing concern on some consumers taking up more debt than they can afford to repay coupled with a lack of understanding of related terms and conditions, resulting in financial adversity. Through an online trial, we intend to study the causal effect of BNPL on consumer spending patterns, disentangling the selection and treatment effects of BNPL. Additionally, we test for effective ways to improve consumer comprehension of BNPL products and their terms and conditions.