Speaker Shahadat Hossain - Animal-sourced Food Price, Shadow Wages, and Male and Female Labor Allocation in Bangladesh
- Event Type
- Seminar/Symposium
- Sponsor
- IPAD (International Policy and Development) - Job Market Paper
- Location
- 428 Mumford Hall
- Virtual
- Join online
- Date
- Nov 6, 2025 12:30 - 1:30 pm
- Speaker
- Shahadat Hossain, PhD Student, Dept ACE, University of Illinois
- Views
- 16
Abstract
In rural economies, shifts in market prices ripple through household welfare, affecting income and expenditure, and also the value and intra-household allocation of men's and women's labor. This paper examines how changes in animal-sourced food (ASF) prices, specifically for chicken and eggs, affect shadow wages and labor allocation in rural Bangladesh. Using panel data from three rounds of the Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (2011/12, 2015, 2018/19) and a non-separable agricultural household model, we estimate part of shadow wages and income driven by the price changes to capture labor supply responses under imperfect labor markets. Results reveal notable gender gaps due to the presence of a restricted labor market: women earn only $0.03–$0.06 per hour compared to $0.66–$0.89 for men, despite their key role in livestock production. Higher ASF prices, particularly for eggs, increase women's shadow wages and shift labor allocation in their favor, underscoring how labor reallocation can shape both welfare and gender equity in rural economies.