International Migration, Bargaining Power and Intra Household Resource Allocation- Evidence of Left behind Households in Kerala

Pooja Batra, Jindal Global Business School
Ajay Sharma, Indian Institute of Management (IIM)

In this study, we use the phenomenon of migration to understand the variations in intra household bargaining power and its impact on decision-making at the household level. This study has two key aspects to explore, first does migration affect the nature of intra-household power allocation, how and to what extent; second, what are the implications of such power allocation on well-being, welfare of and resource allocation to household members. We make an attempt to understand the mechanism of how the absence of a spouse due to international migration affects the bargaining power of the spouse who is left behind on various household decisions especially pertaining to the expenditure on food and non-food items. The analysis has been performed using novel panel data from previous Kerala migration survey and quasi-experimental methods of propensity score and difference-in-difference. We find that international migration does affect the bargaining power of the left behind spouse for various decisions pertaining to expenditure decisions on food and non-food items in comparison to the non-migrant household where both husband and wife are present. The left behind spouse spends more on non-food items such as clothing and footwear, consumer durables, rent and taxes, education and health of the family.

Keywords: International Migration, Econometrics , Gender Dynamics, Longitudinal studies

See paper.