Household Decisions Research Articles

The Effect of Student Loan Debt on Emergency Savings and the Moderating Role of Financial Knowledge: Evidence from the U.S. Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking

This study examines data from the U.S. 2018 and 2019 Survey of Household Economics and Decision making (SHED) to understand the association between student loan debt and emergency-saving decisions, including the moderating role of financial knowledge. Controlling self-selection bias through a propensity score and coarsened exact matching approach, the findings reveal that individuals with student loan debt are less likely to save for financial emergencies. The findings also show that financial knowledge is positively associated with a higher likelihood of having emergency savings. Furthermore, the results from the moderating analysis indicate a statistically significant interaction effect. Based on the empirical results and the corresponding interaction plots, the findings suggest that targeted financial education may lead to improved financial outcomes for student loan borrowers, rather than assuming that such education occurred prior to a loan application.

Women’s autonomy, neonatal, infant and under-five mortality in the Upper East Region of Ghana

Child mortality remains a major health challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. Child survival is greatly influenced by household circumstances and mother’s healthcare choices. Notwithstanding tremendous investment in women empowerment in Ghana, there is limited empirical evidence on whether women’s autonomy translates into better child mortality outcomes. To examine the association between women’s autonomy and neonatal, infant and under-five mortality in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Data were obtained from a randomized cluster household survey among 15–49 years old women in seven districts in the Upper East Region. Data analysis was restricted to 3,243 women who reported ever having given birth. Based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we constructed an autonomy index categorized into least, moderate, and high autonomy based on responses to six questions regarding household decision-making. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to assess the association of women’s autonomy status and mortality outcomes. Attaining secondary education or higher was significantly associated with infant mortality (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.39, CI = 0.16, 0.94) and under-five mortality (aOR = 0.39, CI = 0.18–0.87). Also, maternal age was significantly associated with neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality, while living in rural setting was significantly associated with lower risk of neonatal (aOR = 0.38, CI = 0.19–0.75) and under-five (aOR = 0.63, CI = 0.48–0.83) mortality. However, we found that compared to women with least autonomy, infants of those with moderate autonomy (aOR = 1.76, CI 1.07–2.89) and high autonomy (aOR = 1.75; CI = 1.04–2.93) were significantly more likely to die. In this study setting, women’s autonomy was not predictive of child mortality. Interventions that aim to improve child mortality should pay attention to community and family level factors that promote increase utilization of essential early childhood interventions.

Political Polarization and Finance

We review an empirical literature that studies how political polarization affects financial decisions. We first discuss the degree of partisan segregation in finance and corporate America, the mechanisms through which partisanship may influence financial decisions, and the available data sources used to infer individuals’ partisan leanings. We then describe and discuss the empirical evidence. Our review suggests an economically large and often growing partisan gap in the financial decisions of households, corporate executives, and financial intermediaries. Partisan alignment between individuals explains team and financial relationship formation, with initial evidence suggesting that high levels of partisan homogeneity may be associated with economic costs. We conclude by proposing several promising directions for future research.

Boosting domestic rice production in Ghana: Analysis of consumer opinions, purchasing behavior and determinants among different income strata

Despite the fact that domestic rice production contributes significantly to the livelihood of millions of people in Ghana, it has been observed that consumers show a strong preference for expensive and imported rice over locally produced rice. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception, purchasing behaviour and determinants of local rice consumption across three income households in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. A total of 414 rice consumers were selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential techniques, including perception analysis and ordered probit model, were used to analyse the data. The overall perception index of 3.61 denotes that consumers generally have a positive perception of local rice regarding health benefits (index = 4.44), affordability (index = 3.86), and cooking attributes (index = 3.48), despite its poor appearance (index = 2.80). The ordered probit model depicted heterogeneity of covariates as determinants of local rice consumption-based income strata of the household. For instance, various factors, including gender, age, occupation, and attributes of local rice such as affordability, nutrition, cooking attributes, and appearance, have a notable impact on the consumption of local rice among low-income households. In contrast, education, household decision-making, the place of purchasing local rice, and three perception attributes, namely affordability, nutrition, and cooking attributes, were found to be significant determinants of local rice consumption among middle-income households. According to the data, local rice consumption among high-income families was significantly predicted by gender, occupation, household size, and two perception attributes—affordability and nutrition. The study has practical implications for improving the competitiveness of local rice to increase its acceptance and consumption among consumers in the country.

Better energy cost information changes household property investment decisions: Evidence from a nationwide experiment

With buildings accounting for roughly 40 % of energy consumption in the US and Europe, energy efficiency upgrades will be central in meeting climate targets. Using a nationwide controlled field experiment, we find that the inclusion of property-specific energy cost labels within property advertisements increases energy efficiency premiums. We also show that more energy efficient properties sell faster and, for the first time, that energy cost labels shortened time-to-sell. While a major departure from existing property labelling policy, these results suggest that framing property energy efficiency according to their cost implications, rather than in energy units, increases the demand for energy efficiency.

Socio-Economic Perspectives of Household Water Treatment for Safe Drinking in Nigeria

Access to safe drinking water remains a huge challenge to households in developing countries of which Nigeria is one. This is evident from the numerous cases of water related diseases ravaging the country. The United Nations Children Emergency Fund reports that over 150,000 Nigerians and about 117, 000 under five children, die of water borne diseases annually. Since safe water is gotten from water treatment, the challenges associated with ensuring that water is adequately treated for the households are enormous. Considering that the household is generally the primary source of drinking water for the populace, the socio-economic characteristics of a household plays a key role in determining their access to quality water for drinking. It is based on this that this study seeks to evaluate how household socio-economic characteristics influences a household’s decision to treat its drinking water. The study uses the Binary Logistic regression model to test for the correlates of household water treatment decisions. The data employed in this study is sourced from the Multiple Indicator Cluster survey conducted by UNICEF. A total of 26359 households were selected for the study. The study shows that about 23,495 of the selected households do not treat their water for safe drinking in Nigeria. The result also shows that source of drinking water is a key determining factor in the water treatment decisions of households, as different sources of water were found to have varying degrees of effects on water treatment decisions by households. Some ethnic groups were also observed to have a poor water treatment culture. Also, education of household head and high wealth status increases water treatment.

From policy to practice: The role of national policy instruments and social barriers in UK energy efficiency adoption in households

This paper investigates the adoption trends for energy efficiency (EE) measures in the UK residential sector and the extent to which national-level EE policies impact households' willingness to adopt EE measures and technologies. Using survey data from a representative sample of more than 2000 households across the UK and discrete choice models, this research examines the preferences given to different policy schemes such as tax rebates, grants, loans, easing administrative barriers or information campaigns; and its role on household decisions to adopt EE measures. We find that national-level policies in the form of grants and subsidies, information campaigns on savings and a reduction of administrative barriers would positively impact the probability of a household to adopt such measures. Differences are found between the policy drivers in the adoption of low-cost EE measures e.g. loft insulation vs. High-cost EE measures e.g. heat pumps. Importantly, our results highlight the role of policy mixes in fostering the adoption of EE measures in UK. In combination with other policies, tax credits can be effective in fostering the adoption on EE measures. Our findings have implications for policymakers seeking to enhance the effectiveness of EE policies and address social challenges to promote sustainable energy use.

The Impact of Property Tax Expectations on Household Asset Allocation

Rational asset allocation is central to household wealth accumulation. This paper employs data derived from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey to methodically examine the influence of property tax expectations on the asset allocation decisions of households. This study finds that the expectation of property tax positively influences both the probability of holding risky financial assets and their proportion of household assets. The percentage of housing assets constitutes a substantial negative moderating factor affecting the relationship between property tax expectation and household investments in risky financial assets. The positive effect of property tax expectations is more significant in eastern China. A definite expectation of property tax causes a precautionary saving effect among households. This study highlights that forming reasonable expectations about property taxes can help households adjust their investment portfolios in advance, diversify their asset allocation, and mitigate the impact of changes in property tax policies.

The role of value, belief and norm in shaping intentions to use residential rooftop solar for environment sustainability

The ongoing climate crisis presents a formidable global challenge, driving the urgent need for both technological advancements and a deeper understanding of the psychological factors that influence sustainable energy practices. Among the various technologies available, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are pivotal in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the adoption of residential rooftop solar systems, particularly from a psychological perspective, remains underexplored. Hence, this study aims to investigate the influence of personal values, beliefs, and norms on the intention to adopt residential rooftop solar systems. By integrating the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) framework with Norm Activation Theory (NAT) and the norm internalization process, the research seeks to provide a more nuanced understanding of the environmental and sustainability context. This study employs a non-probability purposive sampling method, collecting 303 valid responses from individuals who do not currently use residential rooftop solar systems, live in landed houses, and are involved in primary household decision-making. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS software. The findings confirm all hypothesized relationships, except for the impact of egoistic values on both the new ecological paradigm and awareness of consequences, as well as the influence of descriptive norms on personal norms. This paper introduces a novel approach by adapting the VBN model to predict the intention to use residential rooftop solar systems through several key modifications: integrating ecological values and openness to change, establishing connections between different values and beliefs (such as altruistic, biospheric, egoistic, openness to change, and ecological values) and awareness of consequences, and incorporating the influence of response efficacy, injunctive social norms, and descriptive norms in positively shaping personal norms.

Women's decision-making power can influence modern contraceptive use: Evidence from Bangladesh.

It is generally believed that gender inequality and women's lack of decision-making power may restrict women's use of modern contraception, leading to high rates of unwanted pregnancies, abortions, and deaths. Evidence shows that empowered women are more likely to use modern contraception methods, but few studies have investigated this across multiple domains of empowerment. This study examined the associations between women's empowerment and modern contraception use in Bangladesh. Data from a sample of 16,834 married women aged 15-49years from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2017-2018 were analysed. Complex survey weight adjusted logistic models were fitted to evaluate the associations after adjusting for clusters, strata, and sampling weights. indicate that just over half of the married women (55.7%) had used modern contraception methods. Women's empowerment was associated with contraceptive use, especially decision-making power. Women who had medium or high autonomy of household decision making were likely to have 20% (AOR=1.20; 95% CI: 1.04-1.39) and 27% (AOR=1.27, 95% CI: 1.11-1.45) increased odds of using modern contraceptives compared to those who scored low in the decision-making domain. The findings demonstrated strong evidence of direct influence of women's decision-making power on modern contraception use. The results also found influence of several socio-demographic factors including area of residence, husband's age, wealth index andmobile phone ownership on the use of modern contraceptives. Future interventions can focus on integrating women's empowerment into family planning programming, with a particular focus on enhancing women's autonomy in decision making.

Gendered distributional impacts of ownership of mobile money account on farm input expenditures: A micro perspective from rural maize farmers in Ghana

AbstractThis article investigates the distributional impact of mobile money account ownership on farm input expenditures among maize farmers in southern Ghana. Using cross‐sectional data from 1044 farm households, we employed an instrumental variable quantile regression to account for endogeneity and selection bias. We find that socioeconomic, spatial location, and institutional factors significantly influence male and female‐headed household decisions to own mobile money accounts. The empirics show that male‐headed households spend more on fertilizer and pesticide relative to female‐headed households. Mobile money account ownership increases fertilizer expenditure in male‐headed households more than female‐headed households. Male‐headed families with mobile money accounts spend 13.9% and 6.5% more on fertilizer at the 40th and 60th quantiles. High 80th quantile female‐headed households spend 4.3% more on fertilizer. For male‐headed households, farming experience and education positively influence mobile money account ownership on fertilizer expenditure, while off‐farm activity at the 40th quantile positively influences female‐headed households. Our results distill useful policy implications that call for concerted efforts targeted at digital financial inclusion with an eye to bridging differential gender gaps.

Reducing food waste through persuasive communication design: how data visualisation principles reinforce behaviour change social marketing messages

PurposeThis paper aims to demonstrate how the design of data visualisations can act as a tool to support social marketing messages in prompting behaviour change to reduce food waste using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) as a theoretical framework. It also responds to a lack of consumer-led insight to develop campaigns in reducing food waste.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses data collected by the End Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre (EFW CRC) in Australia to determine which text-based campaign messages are most likely to prompt people toward reducing food waste. Behaviour change messages were first identified through workshops with 11 food waste experts, then explored through online focus group discussions with 18 participants from three food-wasting market segments. The messages were further tested via a quantitative survey among 1,000 decision makers in Australian households in their own homes, with the top three performing messages examined using summative content analysis.FindingsThe significant findings were that participants want to see 1) evidence of how adopting new behaviours would lead to financial savings and benefit the environment, and 2) concrete steps to reduce food waste. When examined through the ELM, the findings suggest that tools that encourage both cognitive and peripheral processing as a means of persuasion, like data visualisations, may be useful for changing food-wasting behaviours.Research limitations/implicationsApplying principles from the field of communication design to the ELM has uncovered the potential for a cross-disciplinary approach to enhance theoretical frameworks for understanding consumer engagement with messages. This process in turn, may lead to the development of more effective behaviour change marketing strategies.Practical implicationsSix principles for using data visualisations in a social marketing campaign are proposed: personal relevance, ease of use, emotional storytelling, context, prioritising the message itself and long-term usage.Originality/valueThis study proposes that data visualisations could enhance the effectiveness of social marketing campaigns by leveraging consumer-derived insights and the persuasive capacity inherent in their theoretical underpinnings.

Welfare and economic implications of universal child benefits

Universal child benefits are an important component of the social protection systems in many developed economies, particularly in Europe. When evaluating their impact, most studies tend to focus primarily on the empirical evidence and short-term effects. However, given their large-scale implementation, such programs can have sizable general equilibrium effects. The aim of this paper is to study the long-run implications of universal child benefits within a theoretical framework that can capture the complexities of household decisions regarding consumption, labor participation, and the timing of children. To this end, I develop an overlapping generations model with idiosyncratic earnings risk, infertility shocks, and endogenous temporal fertility. According to the model simulations, universal child benefits lead to a reduction in the spacing between children and, on average, lower maternal age at childbirth for all births. This, in turn, alleviates some of the negative aggregate effects typically associated with redistributive policies, but has a detrimental impact on the average quality of children. Finally, universal child benefits increase ex-ante welfare by 0.42% of lifetime adult consumption, significantly outperforming broad-based transfer policies not tied to the number of children.

People’s understanding of inflation

This paper studies people’s understanding of inflation—their perceived causes, consequences, trade-offs-and the policies supported to mitigate its effects. We design a new, detailed online survey based on the rich existing literature in economics with two experimental components — a conjoint experiment and an information experiment — to examine how well public views align with established economic theories. Our key findings show that the major perceived causes of inflation include government actions, such as increased foreign aid and war-related expenditures, alongside rises in production costs attributed to recent events like the COVID-19 pandemic, oil price fluctuations, and supply chain disruptions. Respondents anticipate many negative consequences of inflation but the most noted one is the increased complexity and difficulty in household decision-making. Partisan differences emerge distinctly, with Republicans more likely to attribute inflation to government policies and foresee broader negative outcomes, whereas Democrats anticipate greater inequality effects. Inflation is perceived as an unambiguously negative phenomenon without any potential positive economic correlates. Notably, there is a widespread belief that managing inflation can be achieved without significant trade-offs, such as reducing economic activity or increasing unemployment. These perceptions are hard to move experimentally. In terms of policy responses, there is resistance to monetary tightening, consistent with the perceived absence of trade-offs and the belief that it is unnecessary to reduce economic activity to fight inflation. The widespread misconception that inflation rises following increases in interest rates even leads to support for rate cuts to reduce inflation. There is a clear preference for policies that are perceived to have other benefits, such as reducing government debt in progressive ways or increasing corporate taxes, and for support for vulnerable households, despite potential inflationary effects.

A Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding the Public Health Impact of a School-Based Citizen Science Program to Reduce Arsenic in Private Well Water.

Exposure to arsenic (As) in well water is a well-documented public health issue for Maine and New Hampshire, as well as for other states in the United States and abroad. Arsenic contamination of well water in these locations is primarily attributed to metasedimentary bedrock that leaches As into groundwater. However, As can also enter groundwater reserves from soils contaminated by the historical use of arsenical pesticides. Approximately half of the households in Maine and New Hampshire rely on private wells, many of which have elevated As. Arsenic exposure has been associated with an increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, reduced infection resistance, and lower intelligence quotient in children. Despite these known health impacts, well water testing and treatment are not universal. We have approached the problem of low well water testing rates in Maine and New Hampshire communities by developing the All About Arsenic (AAA) project, which engages secondary school teachers and students as citizen scientists in collecting well water samples for analysis of As and other toxic metals and supports their outreach efforts to their communities. We assessed this project's public health impact by analyzing student data relative to existing well water quality datasets in both states. In addition, we surveyed private well owners who contributed well water samples to the project to determine the actions taken to mitigate As in well water. Students collected 3,070 drinking water samples for metals testing, and 752 exceeded New Hampshire's As standard of . The AAA data has more than doubled the amount of information available to public health agencies about well water quality in multiple municipalities across both states. Students also collected information about well types and treatment systems. Their data reveal that some homeowners did not know what type of wells they had or whether they had filtration systems. Those with filtration systems were often unaware of the type of system, what the system was filtering for, or whether the system was designed to remove As. Through interviews with pilot survey participants, we learned that some had begun mitigating their exposure to As and other toxic metals in response to test results from the AAA project. A school-based approach to collecting and analyzing private well water samples can successfully reach communities with low testing rates for toxic elements, such as As and other metals. Importantly, information generated through the program can impact household decision-making, and students can influence local and state policymaking by sharing information in their communities. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13421.

Tests for market failures and overcoming transaction costs barriers to market participation in Afghanistan

AbstractSimilar to other fragile poor countries, the majority of the rural population in Afghanistan depend directly or indirectly on small-scale farming for their livelihoods, and poor infrastructure and other barriers restrict access to markets and services, making improving access to local input markets a significant challenge for policymakers aiming to increase productivity. This paper offers empirical evidence addressing two important issues for smallholder participation in input markets: are rural markets incomplete or failing and how do transaction costs affect participation in factor markets? Pooled cross-sectional data from three waves of nationally representative surveys between 2011 and 2016 with a sample of nearly 21,000 households are used. The analysis first tests and rejects the separability hypothesis that household production and consumption decisions are independent which can be interpreted as evidence of market failures. A control function approach with instrumental variables to address endogeneity is employed to estimate household input market participation decisions. Ownership of or access to information and communication technology and transport equipment are used as proxies for transaction costs. Results confirm that lower transaction costs increase input market participation and expenditure on inputs by farm households. Additionally, households with better access to roads and district or provincial market centres have higher market participation and expenditure on input. Reducing transaction costs plays an important role in input use, potentially increasing productivity and incomes.

Behavioral preferences and contract choice in the residential solar PV market

AbstractGreater adoption of renewable energy technologies by households is a key component of decarbonization and energy transition goals. Although existing literature has examined how sociodemographic characteristics, “green” preferences, and peer effects impact adoption of new energy technology, the role of behavioral preferences has not been adequately studied. In this paper, we examine the effect of two types of behavioral preferences, namely the degree of risk tolerance (risk preference) and attitude toward delayed reward (time preference) on the contract decision to lease or own a solar photovoltaic (PV) system. We develop a theoretical framework to show that the effect of risk and time preferences on the relative utilities from the two contracts is monotonic: Lower risk aversion and lower discount rate (more patience) imply a higher chance of solar PV ownership. To test these predictions empirically, we first estimate preference parameters (risk aversion and discount rate) from laboratory data collected from solar PV adopters. We then combine the parameter estimates with data on actual solar PV contract choice to examine the relationship between solar PV adopters' time and risk preferences and their lease‐versus‐own choice. Our regression results confirm that less risk averse individuals have a higher tendency to choose the ownership option, whereas more patient individuals are (weakly) more likely to own their solar PV systems. These findings contribute to a greater understanding of the role of behavioral factors in household decisions related to energy technologies.

From individual to household decision‐making: A practical perspective on the base of the pyramid consumer

AbstractThis paper proposes a new household decision‐making model for base of pyramid (BoP) consumers. Many decision‐making models focus on general consumer behaviour theory, with few focusing on the resource constraints experienced at the BoP. By focusing on the dynamics of household decisions, the data collected bring a unique perspective to BoP consumer behaviour and extend recent work in the BoP domain. The study comprised qualitative interviews with 61 household representatives (representing 233 household members) to explore decision‐making, loyalty, budgeting, shopping and category trade‐offs. The study proposes a household‐focused decision‐making framework, which is far more characteristic of BoP consumer behaviour (as opposed to isolated individual decisions). The proposed framework reveals the impact of situations and financial constraints on BoP household decision‐making and how most households operate in both the formal and informal economy. Family obligation was observed to be a key factor, as well as how functional illiteracy drives brand loyalty but also creates embarrassment. Word of mouth trumps all other sources of information and, due to household complexities, there is significant decision‐maker ambiguity, making it hard to define a target audience with a communication strategy. Brands are important, but fundamental value is still key and there is inexorable monthly variation in finances, making category trade‐offs commonplace.

A Study to Assess Women’s Autonomy in Household Decision Making Under Field Areas of Medical College Health Unit, Pangappara

A Study to Assess Women’s Autonomy in Household Decision Making Under Field Areas of Medical College Health Unit, Pangappara

Women's Empowerment and Associated Factors in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: A Secondary Data Analysis of the Performance Monitoring Assessment Survey.

Empowering women and promoting gender equality is crucial for accelerating sustainable development in fragile countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). However, there is scarce existing knowledge or understanding of the factors determining women's empowerment in these contexts. We aimed to assess women's empowerment and determine its associated factors in Kinshasa, DRC. We analyzed data from the 2021 Performance Monitoring Assessment (PMA) survey. A sample of 1365 women of childbearing age was retained for this study. Twenty empowerment items related to household decision-making, contraception use, and husband/partner influence were considered. We calculated the average women's empowerment index (aWEI), identified the women's empowerment variables using principal component analysis (PCA), and determined the associated factors for the first three principal components through the performance of multivariate binary logistic regression. In Kinshasa, the overall aWEI was estimated at 0.65. It was low for household decision-making (0.34) and high for husband/partner influence domains (0.93). Three principal components were identified and named, including the absence of threats, control of sexuality, and participation in decision-making. The factors associated with these components were having internet access, being in free union with a partner, being aged 40-49 years, and residing in a non-slum area. Increasing access to information would enable women in Kinshasa to make strategic decisions about their lives, benefiting themselves and others.