Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/98342 
Year of Publication: 
2003
Series/Report no.: 
Center Discussion Paper No. 857
Publisher: 
Yale University, Economic Growth Center, New Haven, CT
Abstract: 
In Côte d'Ivoire, as in much of Africa, husbands and wives farm different crops on separate plots. These different crops are differentially sensitive to particular kinds of rainfall shocks. We find that conditional on overall household expenditure, the composition of expenditure is sensitive to the gender of the recipient of a rainfall shock. For example, rainfall shocks associated with high women's income shift expenditure towards food. Social norms constrain the use of profits from yam cultivation, which is carried out by men. Correspondingly, we find that rainfall-induced fluctuations in income from yams are transmitted to expenditures on education and food, not to expenditures on private goods. We reject the hypothesis of complete insurance within households, even with respect to publicly observable weather shocks. Different sources of income are allocated to different uses depending upon both the identity of the income earner and upon the origin of the income.
Subjects: 
Intra-household Allocation
Insurance
Social Norms
Mental Accounts
JEL: 
O12
D13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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