Sweden

Vision

Research to provide empirical and theoretical evidence for promoting sustainable environmental policy through global and local studies in Sweden and various developing countries. A particular focus is on vulnerable groups and poverty alleviation, as well as emphasizing the gender perspective. Teaching to help with capacity-building throughout the EfD network.

Decision-Making within the Household: The Role of Autonomy and Differences in Preferences

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 17 July 2019

We use a field experiment to identify how differences in preferences and autonomy in decision-making result in sub-optimal adoption of technologies that can maximize the welfare of all members of the household. We create income-earning opportunities to empower subjects and elicit their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for improved cookstoves through a real stove purchase experiment with randomly chosen wives, husbands and couples. Experimental results suggest that women, who often are responsible for cooking and for collecting fuelwood, reveal a higher preference than men for the improved stoves.