Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35348 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4241
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In this paper we study the link between women's responsibility for children and their preferences. We use a large random sample of individuals living in rural India, incentive compatible measures of patience and risk aversion, and detailed survey data. We find more patient choices among women who have a higher number of children. The age of children matters: The link with patience is specific for children below 18 years old, and the highest level of patience is associated with having three children. We do not observe this link among men. Taken together, we find significant gender differences in patience that are predicted by a higher number of children. The results are robust to controlling for age, education, income constraints, and individual and location characteristics. These findings suggest an important context when the spending preferences of spouses diverge, and support the view that empowering women in developing countries should lead to more future-oriented choices of households.
Subjects: 
Time discounting
gender
children
experiment
India
JEL: 
C93
D13
D91
O12
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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