Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This study examines how households’ spending patterns vary from receiving loans by different genders of the loan recipients in rural Ethiopia. Specifically, it analyzes that additional financial resource increases bargaining power of the loan recipient within the household, investigating whether the loans received are more likely to be spent for family or recipient oneself depending on the gender of recipient. Using the Ethiopian Rural Household Surveys (ERHS) 1994-2009, this research employs OLS and household-level fixed effect model. The study has found that when the loan recipient in a household is female, share of consumption for family oriented-goods, such as food, education, health and housing, to total consumption is more likely to increase, compared to household with male loan takers.