TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Akresh, Richard
AU  - Chen, Joyce J
AU  - Moore, Charity
        TI  - Altruism, Cooperation, and Efficiency: Agricultural Production in Polygynous Households
        PY  - 2011/Dec/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 6265
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp6265
        AB  - Altruism among family members can, in some cases, inhibit cooperation by increasing the utility that players expect to receive in a non-cooperative equilibrium. To test this, we examine agricultural productivity in polygynous households in West Africa. We find that cooperation is greater – production is more efficient – among co-wives than among husbands and wives because co-wives are less altruistic towards each other. The results are not driven by scale effects or self-selection into polygyny. Nor can they be explained by greater propensity for cooperation among women generally or by the household head acting as an enforcement mechanism for others' cooperative agreements.
        KW  - household bargaining
KW  - non-cooperative behavior
KW  - altruism
KW  - polygyny
KW  - Africa
        ER  -