Publications [#239020] of Duncan Thomas

Journal Articles

1. Thomas, D, Gender differences in household resource allocations, World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study Working Paper, vol. 79 (January, 1991)
   (last updated on 2024/11/03)

   Abstract:
   Using household survey data from the United States, Brazil and Ghana, examines the relationship between parental education and child height, an indicator of health and nutritional status. In all three countries, the education of the mother has a bigger effect on her daughter's height; paternal education, in contrast, has a bigger impact on his son's height. There are, apparently, differences in the allocation of household resources depending on the gender of the child and these differences vary with the gender of the parent. In Ghana, the education of a woman who is better educated than her husband has a bigger impact on the height of her daughter than her son. In Brazil, a woman's nonlabor income has a positive impact on the health of her daughter but not her son's health. If relative education of parents and non-labor income are indicators of power in a household bargaining game, then these results suggest that gender differences in resource allocations reflect both technological differences in child rearing and differences in the preferences of parents. -Author