A Mother’s Voice: Impacts of Spousal Communication Training on Child Health Investments

Martina Björkman-Nyqvist, Seema Jayachandran and Celine P. Zipfel

No 30962, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Building on prior evidence that mothers often have a stronger preference for spending on children than fathers do, we use a randomized experiment to evaluate the impacts of a communication training program for mothers on child health in Uganda. The hypothesis is that the training will enable women to better convey their knowledge and preferences to their husbands and, thereby, boost investments in children's health. We find that the program increases spousal discussion about the family's health, nutrition, and finances. However, this does not increase overall adoption of health-promoting behaviors or improve child anthropometrics. One exception is that the communication training increases women's and children’s intake of protein-rich foods as well as household spending on these foods.

JEL-codes: D10 I12 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-exp and nep-hea
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Published as Nyqvist, Martina Björkman & Jayachandran, Seema & Zipfel, Céline, 2024. "A mother’s voice: Impacts of spousal communication training on child health investments," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

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Journal Article: A mother’s voice: Impacts of spousal communication training on child health investments (2024)
Working Paper: A mother's voice: Impacts of spousal communication training on child health investments (2023)
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