Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232700 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13948
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The structure of a family may have important consequences for the material well-being of its members. For example, in large families, an individual must share resources with many others, but she may benefit from economies of scale in consumption. In this paper, we study individual consumption in different types of households, with a focus on family structures that are common in developing countries. Based on a collective household model, we develop a new methodology to identify the intra-household allocation of resources and the extent of consumption sharing. We apply our methodology using data from Bangladesh and Mexico, and use the model estimates to compute poverty rates for men, women, and children. Contrary to existing poverty calculations that ignore either intra-household inequality or economies of scale in consumption, ours take into account both dimensions.
Subjects: 
collective model
household bargaining
resource shares
scale economies
Barten scales
indifference scales
poverty
JEL: 
D13
D11
D12
C31
I32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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