Purpose

Many aspects of well-being depend critically on individual-level expenditure and consumption. The Millennium Development Goals include the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, which partly have to do with women’s access to resources within households. Many important questions in labour, public and development economics also hinge on the intra-household distribution of resources. This paper aims to estimate the resource shares within a household in the rural and urban sectors of West Bengal through a collective household model, where each household member has a specific utility function. The sharing rule parameters, that determine the apportionment of resources between members within a household, are estimated in an intra-household collective framework. The analysis is based on a system of log-quadratic Engel curves estimated using the 68th round (2011–2012) household-level consumption expenditure data of the Indian National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) for rural and urban sectors separately for the state of West Bengal.

Design/methodology/approach

The sharing rule parameters (that determine the apportionment of resources between members) within a household are estimated in an intra-household collective framework as suggested by Dunbar et al. (2013). The analysis is based on a Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) estimated using the 68th round (2011–2012) household-level consumption expenditure data of the Indian NSSO.

Findings

In this paper, the authors estimate the sharing rule of total household expenditure between couples in a household in the state of West Bengal. They use a modified version of the QUAIDS and the 68th round (2011–2012) household-level consumer expenditure data provided by the NSSO. From the exercise, it emerges that on an average, the resource shares between husband and wife in a household is about 66:34% in the rural sector and about 60:40% in the urban sector. Based on a classification of households by the distribution of resource shares, where higher resource share for the husband is classified as “Husband dominated” and the reverse as “Wife dominated”, the percentage of “Husband dominated” households is much more in both sectors. This unequal distribution of resources may have far-reaching consequences on allocation of expenditure on the children of the household. The authors leave this exercise as a future project.

Originality/value

This paper is an attempt to estimate the sharing rule for households using NSSO consumption expenditure data. This paper also highlights the intra household unequal resource allocation through the sharing rule. They use a modified version of the QUAIDS and the 68th round (2011–2012) household-level consumer expenditure data provided by the NSSO. From the exercise, it emerges that on an average, the resource shares between husband and wife in a household is about 66:34% in the rural sector and about 60:40% in the urban sector. Based on a classification of households by the distribution of resource shares, where higher resource share for the husband is classified as “Husband dominated” and the reverse as “Wife dominated”, the percentage of “Husband dominated” households is much more in both sectors. This unequal distribution of resources may have far-reaching consequences on allocation of expenditure on the children of the household. The authors leave this exercise as a future project.

中文翻译：

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共享规则的估计：家庭内部集体模型在印度数据上的应用

目的

福祉的许多方面严重依赖于个人层面的支出和消费。千年发展目标包括促进性别平等和赋予妇女权力，这在一定程度上与妇女获得家庭资源有关。劳动、公共和发展经济学中的许多重要问题也取决于家庭内部的资源分配。本文旨在通过集体家庭模型估算西孟加拉邦农村和城市家庭的资源份额，其中每个家庭成员都有特定的效用函数。决定家庭内成员之间资源分配的共享规则参数是在家庭内部集体框架中估算的。

设计/方法/途径

正如 Dunbar等人所建议的，家庭内部的共享规则参数（决定成员之间的资源分配）是在家庭内部集体框架中估算的。(2013)。该分析基于使用印度 NSSO 的第 68 轮（2011-2012 年）家庭消费支出数据估计的二次近似理想需求系统 (QUAIDS)。

发现

在这篇论文中，作者估计了西孟加拉邦一个家庭中夫妻之间家庭总支出的分摊规则。他们使用了 QUAIDS 的修改版本和 NSSO 提供的第 68 轮（2011-2012 年）家庭消费支出数据。从这个练习中可以看出，平均而言，家庭中夫妻之间的资源份额在农村约为 66:34%，在城市约为 60:40%。根据资源份额分布的家庭分类，丈夫的资源份额较高被归类为“丈夫主导”，反之则被归类为“妻子主导”，“丈夫主导”的家庭在这两个部门的比例都更高. 这种资源分配不均可能会对家庭子女的支出分配产生深远影响。作者将此练习留作未来的项目。

原创性/价值

本文是尝试使用 NSSO 消费支出数据来估计家庭的共享规则。本文还通过共享规则强调了家庭内部资源分配的不平等。他们使用了 QUAIDS 的修改版本和 NSSO 提供的第 68 轮（2011-2012 年）家庭消费支出数据。从这个练习中可以看出，平均而言，家庭中夫妻之间的资源份额在农村约为 66:34%，在城市约为 60:40%。根据资源份额分布的家庭分类，丈夫的资源份额较高被归类为“丈夫主导”，反之则被归类为“妻子主导”，“丈夫主导”的家庭在这两个部门的比例都更高. 这种资源分配不均可能会对家庭子女的支出分配产生深远影响。作者将此练习留作未来的项目。