A good wife? When marital reputation shapes economic choices

Dialogues économiques
OCTOBER 6, 2025
To buy or not to buy? When we weigh the decision to purchase something, a multitude of factors come into play. But is our partner’s opinion among them? This question becomes especially critical in households where incomes are extremely limited. To investigate, three economists recently carried out a large-scale experiment in Malawi.
Member(s)
Roberta Ziparo
Read the article on
https://www.dialogueseconomiques.fr/en/article/good-wife-when-marital-reputation-shapes-economic-choices

Latest publications

When Cancer Doesn’t Stop People From Smoking
Why do some people keep smoking, even when a loved one has become seriously ill because of tobacco? A study based on 200,000 people in France shows that these “family shocks” have very little impact on behaviour. The findings raise questions about the effectiveness of prevention policies.
How matrimonial ads reveal the evolution of our ideals about love
The France Culture program “Avec Sciences,” about the work of Quentin Lippmann (AMU/AMSE)
Economic precarity compounds the harms of homophobia
An article from "L'Observatoire des inégalités" in France, on the work of Bruno Ventelou (CNRS/AMSE)