The Effects of Fertility on Intrahousehold Resource Allocation and Women’s Bargaining Power - Evidence from Nigeria

Abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of reproductive outcomes on women's participation in their family's decision-making and on the share of the household's resources allocated to them. It also examines the effects on labor, time use, and health-related outcomes. Two main sources of variation in reproductive outcomes are used: an increase in the number of children, instrumented by the event of multiple births, and a change in gender composition of a woman's children, instrumented by having a firstborn son. It builds upon literature on bargaining power, on the effects of fertility on mothers' welfare and labor supply and on the impacts of gender distribution of the progeny on women's position within their household. The findings indicate that an increase in the number of children is associated with a lower probability of participating in the household's decision-making regarding the usage of family income, a lower likelihood of using preventative health services, lower monthly incomes and lower household's expenditures on women's clothing. Similarly, having a male son increases the probability that a woman is the owner or manager of a family-owned income generating activity.