Research

Job Market Paper:

“Household Decision-making and Women´s Labor Market Participation in a Developing Economy.” (with Radchenko, N.). Download

• Abstract

  “This paper investigates how household decision-making patterns influence female labor force participation in a developing economy. It also examines the role of social norms in this relationship, providing a conceptual framework that outlines the trade-off between the household’s economic surplus and the non-monetary cost of the wife working. This framework enables us to differentiate between household patterns in women’s employment, from the male breadwinner/female homemaker model to one defined by female agency. Using household reports on decision-making involvement from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS), we empirically test the model by examining the impact of household decision-making patterns on a woman’s participation in the labor market and her actual labor market outcomes. The findings support the conservative patriarchal model of household behavior, revealing the prevalence of the husband’s disutility from his wife’s work over her own preferences. Moreover, results suggest that the non-monetary cost of her employment plays a more signicant role than the income effect in shaping these outcomes. The results also highlight the persistence of social norms surrounding Indonesian women’s labor supply, both over time and across cohorts. Additionally, the study underscores the importance of nuanced measures of decision-making power by considering both spouses’ responses: spousal discrepancies in responses are not random and imply different evaluation scales with women tending to overestimate their degree of involvement. This contrasts with the standard literature, which frequently relies solely on the wife’s perspective.”

Working Papers:

“Bargaining Power - A Measurement Issue” (with Radchenko, N.), Working Paper.

• Abstract

  “In the context of widening inequalities and persistent gender stratifications, accurate measurement of individual agency within households has become increasingly important for understanding the ethical and distributive dimensions of economic life. Bargaining power within households influences decision-making, resource allocation, and individual well-being. Addressing the limitations of current metrics, this paper proposes a data distribution based bargaining power index and highlights underlying deviations from predominant social norms. By analyzing how individuals conform to or diverge from normative decision-making patterns, this approach captures variations in agency, power, and constraint within the household. Ultimately, this provides a more rigorous tool for examining how gendered power structures and social norms intersect to shape women’s labor supply.”

“Multigenerational Household Dynamics: Intrahousehold Bargaining and Women’s Labor Outcomes.”, Work in progress.

Other Publication:

• “From Legislation to Implementation: Building a New Industrial Policy in the United States.” (with Artecona, R., & Velloso, H. 2023). - Link