81325
                  enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database



  Gender Bias in Intrahousehold Allocation: Evidence from an Unintentional Experiment

      Author(s)            Luis Braido, Pedro Olinto and Helena Perrone
      Contact              polinto@worldbank.org

      Country              Brazil

  Organizing Theme         Economic Opportunities and Access to Assets, Voice and Agency

       Status              Completed

Intervention Category      Cash Transfer

       Sector              Social Protection
                           We use data from a Brazilian social program to investigate the existence of gender bias in
                           intrahousehold allocations of resources. The program makes cash transfers to mothers and
                           pregnant women in poor households. Bureaucratic mistakes, beyond the control of the
                           applicants, have inadvertently excluded many households that had applied and were
      Abstract
                           accepted to the program. This unintentional natural experiment is used to identify the
                           impact of an exogenous variation in female nonlabor income over household consumption.
                           We find that program participation led to an increase in food expenditure, but this effect is
                           not due to women being the benefit recipients.
 Gender Connection         Gender Focused Intervention

  Gender Outcomes          Consumption, intrahousehold decision-making
                           Natural Experiment- There were random errors in the allocation of benefits that
     IE Design
                           mistakenly did not provide funds to eligible beneficiaries
                           The program consisted of cash transfers to pregnant mothers of children under age 7. The
                           program required compliance with vaccination schedules and regular visits to public centers
    Intervention           for prenatal care, child-growth monitoring, and health education classes. Payments were
                           conducted by a large federal bank which used personalized ATM cards. The transfer was
                           on average 8% the size of total household expenditure.
 Intervention Period       The program started in 2001. The analysis covers the first six months of the program.
                           The sample included 968 households that were eligible for the program. 77 of these
  Sample population
                           families had no male adult. 698 of these families received the transfer.
                           The study compares the treated to individuals who were eligible for the program, applied,
Comparison conditions
                           but were excluded due to errors.
   Unit of analysis        Household and Intrahousehold level

  Evaluation Period        The program started in 2001. The analysis covers the first six months of the program.
                           The paper finds no evidence that household consumption decisions were affected by the
                           fact the transfer was directed to a woman instead of a man. Beneficiary households did
       Results
                           have a significant increase in consumption, but this increase was almost all due to higher
                           food consumption.

   Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                       1
                   enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database


                            The key identifying assumption is that participation in the program did not affect the
Primary study limitations   fraction of female households or the fraction of households who received extra income.
                            However, it is possible that the program did impact the composition of female households.
    Funding Source
                            Braido, L. H., Olinto, P., & Perrone, H. (2012). Gender Bias in Intrahousehold Allocation:
      Reference(s)          Evidence from an Unintentional Experiment. Review of Economics and Statistics, 94(2),
                            552-565.
    Link to Studies
                            http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00205
       Microdata




    Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                     2