In patriarchal societies, sticky norms affect married women's social circles, their autonomy, and the outcomes of intra-household bargaining. This paper uses primary data on women's social networks in Uttarakhand, India; the modal woman has only three friends, and over 80 percent do not have any...

Farmers in developing countries face a wide array of risks. Yet they often lack formal financial instruments to protect against risks. This paper examines the impact on consumption, investment, and welfare of the separate provision of three financial products: weather insurance, savings, and...

This paper uses unique data collected in rural Pakistan to assess the extent to which consanguinity, which is widespread in North Africa, Central and West Asia, and most parts of South Asia, is linked to child cognitive ability and nutritional status. As economic benefits of marrying cousins may...

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development's Goal for Gender Equality (SDG5 to: Achieve Gender Equality and Empower Women and Girls) sets a series of ambitious targets that will measure progress towards attaining this goal. One such target is to: 'eliminate all harmful practices, such as child,...

This paper develops and estimates a dynamic model of individuals' and couples' labor supply, savings, and retirement decisions to analyze how the design of a privatized pension system affects gender pension gaps. Chile has one of the longest running nationwide private retirements accounts...

The ancient custom of dowry, that is, bride-to-groom marriage payments, remains ubiquitous in many contemporary societies. This paper examines whether dowry impacted household decision making and resource allocation in rural India during 1986-2007. Utilizing variation in firstborn gender and...

Important progress toward gender equality has been made in the past decades, but inequalities linked to gender norms, stereotypes, and the unequal distribution of housework and childcare responsibilities persist. Lifetime events such as marriage and parenthood bring substantial changes in time...

This study examines the association of unemployment variation with intimate partner violence using representative data from thirty-one developing countries, through 2005 to 2016. It finds that a 1 percent increase in the male unemployment rate is associated with an increase in the incidence of...