The More the Poorer? Resource Sharing and Scale Economies in Large Families

Rossella Calvi (), Jacob Penglase (), Denni Tommasi and Alexander Wolf
Additional contact information
Rossella Calvi: Rice University
Jacob Penglase: San Diego State University

No 13948, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The structure of a family may have important consequences for the material well-being of its members. For example, in large families, an individual must share resources with many others, but she may benefit from economies of scale in consumption. In this paper, we study individual consumption in different types of households, with a focus on family structures that are common in developing countries. Based on a collective household model, we develop a new methodology to identify the intra-household allocation of resources and the extent of consumption sharing. We apply our methodology using data from Bangladesh and Mexico, and use the model estimates to compute poverty rates for men, women, and children. Contrary to existing poverty calculations that ignore either intra-household inequality or economies of scale in consumption, ours take into account both dimensions.

Keywords: Barten scales; scale economies; resource shares; household bargaining; collective model; indifference scales; poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C31 D11 D12 D13 I32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2020-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published - published in: Journal of Development Economics, 2023, 160, 102986

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Related works:
Journal Article: The more the poorer? Resource sharing and scale economies in large families (2023)
Working Paper: The More the Poorer? Resource Sharing and Scale Economies in Large Families (2021)
Working Paper: The More the Poorer? Resource Sharing and Scale Economies in Large Families (2020)
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