Social networks and intra-household resource allocation in rural Ethiopia.1

In many models on intra-household resource allocation, the distribution of resources among individuals depends on their position within the household. Between spouses, this position is determined ex-ante (in the marriage market) or ex-post (as a result of bargaining). In the context of developing countries, the empirical testing of the determinants of this bargaining position has largely been restricted to levels of education, independent sources of income and (pre-marital) ownership of assets, notably land or cattle. Social ties have not been considered a determinant while various studies have documented the importance of social ties for livelihoods in the context of missing markets. In this paper we therefore explore the effect of social ties of spouses on their bargaining position within the household. To address this question we use a unique data set collected in rural Ethiopia. All 357 households residing in one village and within them 670 individuals were interviewed on their social networks, bargaining position and livelihood strategies. In this paper we include all monogamously married couples (N=212) from this data set to test the effect o