Are Movers More Egalitarian than Stayers? An Intergenerational Perspective on Intra-Household Financial Decision-Making

This study seeks to investigate the role of international migration in shaping the financial decision-making behaviors of married couples through a comparison of three generations of Turkish migrants to Europe (i.e., movers) with their counterparts who remained in Turkey (i.e., stayers). The data are drawn from a subset of personal data from the 2000 Families Survey, involving 4,215 interviews performed randomly with married individuals nested within 1,713 families. The results suggest that international migration increases the tendency for spouses to jointly decide on their finances by (1) weakening the intergenerational transmission of traditional financial decision-making behaviors and gender ideologies and (2) enabling more intense acculturation of younger generations within “less patriarchal” contexts. With its unique, intergenerational, and multisite perspective, the study provides particular insight into the understudied relationship between migration and intra-household decision-making and its benefits for gender equality.

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Gender Differences in Intra-Household Financial Decision-Making: An Application of Coarsened Exact Matching

Journal of Risk and Financial Management ◽

10.3390/jrfm14100469 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (10) ◽

pp. 469

Author(s):

Frederik Booysen ◽

Sevias Guvuriro

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Decision Making ◽

Bargaining Power ◽

Household Expenditure ◽

Exact Matching ◽

Household Decision ◽

Financial Decision Making ◽

Household Decision Making ◽

Financial Decision ◽

Per Capita

Most studies that explore collective models of intra-household decision-making use economic outcomes such as human capital, earnings, assets, and relative income shares as proxies of the relative distribution of bargaining power. These studies, however, fail to incorporate important measures of control over and management of the economic resources within households. In the current study, a direct measure of financial decision-making power within the household is used to directly assess the distribution of bargaining power. Coarsened exact matching, an identification strategy not yet applied in studies of this nature, is applied to couple-level observational data from South Africa’s longitudinal National Income Dynamics Study. The influence of gender differences in intra-household decision-making on resource allocations to per capita household expenditure is assessed. In the case of greater financial decision-making power in couples being assigned to wives rather than husbands, per capita household expenditure on education increases significantly. The empowerment of women with financial decision-making power therefore holds the promise of realizing the benefits of investments in human capital.

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Skills and household financial decision-making in Indonesia

International Journal of Social Economics ◽

10.1108/ijse-10-2019-0632 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 47 (11) ◽

pp. 1433-1450

Author(s):

Arief Wibisono Lubis

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Financial Literacy ◽

Well Being ◽

Microfinance Institutions ◽

Content Type ◽

Household Decision ◽

Financial Decision Making ◽

Household Decision Making ◽

Financial Decision

PurposeThis study examines whether financial literacy is a relevant factor that determines authority in household financial decision-making, an area that is often viewed as boring, difficult and full of uncertainties. Cognitive ability and personality traits are also included as additional explanatory variables.Design/methodology/approachThe logistic regression technique was applied using a sample of more than 2,300 microfinance institutions' clients in three provinces in Indonesia.FindingsThis study finds that financial literacy correlates positively with authority in household financial decision-making only among men. This does not mean that financial literacy is irrelevant for women's agency, since the skill might be important for authorities in other decision-making areas, including those outside households. Meanwhile, the relationship between cognitive ability and household financial decision-making authority is more universal.Research limitations/implicationsThis study does not collect information on the levels of financial literacy of other household members and does not capture respondents' perceptions of household financial decision-making.Social implicationsThe overall low level of financial literacy calls for the need for more targeted efforts to address this issue by policymakers. Education policy should also be designed to improve cognitive ability, as this ability is important for human agency and well-being.Originality/valueHousehold decision-making has received significant attention in the literature. Authority in household decision-making is important because it represents a person's agency and has a profound impact on well-being. To the best of author's knowledge, studies on the importance of skills in household financial decision-making are very limited.

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Financial Decision Making and Survey Responses of Older Couples

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.995 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 310-311

Author(s):

Angela Curl ◽

Estevan Tobias Molina

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Married Couples ◽

Older Couples ◽

Financial Decisions ◽

Financial Decision Making ◽

Household Finances ◽

Scale Range ◽

Limited Power ◽

Financial Decision ◽

Survey Responses

Abstract The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) asks mid-life and older couples to identify the person most knowledgeable about household finances to provide responses to financial questions (“financial respondent” [FR]). The purpose of this study is to analyze predictors of a female FR, with a focus on gendered financial decision making. This study analyzed HRS data from 2012 to 2018. Our sample consisted of 5,038 married/partnered couples over the age of 50 (at baseline), after eliminating cases with missing data on study variables. Using HLM 6.08 software, we computed the odds of couple households having a female FR. Our main predictor was the amount of female financial decision making power, as measured using eight Likert scale items (0=male always makes this decision, 4=female always makes this decision), for purchases (e.g., cars, major appliances) and financial activities (e.g., paying bills, buying groceries); summed into a scale (range: 0-32). Our models controlled for race, ethnicity, education, income, age, health, cognitive ability, and depressive symptoms. Results indicate that men were more likely to be the FR, but when the female makes more household financial decisions then she is more likely to be the FR (OR = 1.16, p<.01). Black race, lower income, and time also increased the odds of a female FR. This study highlights women’s historical and ongoing limited power in financial matters of married couples. Financial knowledge and decision making skills should be encouraged for both partners in couple households.

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