DO HOUSEHOLD SAVINGS DIFFER BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS?

This paper starts form stylized facts showing that savings rates of households headed by women are smaller than those headed by men which suggest a disadvantageous position for feminine households to confront adverse situations in the future. In order to answer if household savings determinants differ between those headed by men or women, a probability logistic model of savings was estimated with income of household proxied by education level, other incomes from other household integrants, credits, government transferences and remittances from the migrant laborers and, demographic factors like marital status, presence of babies and children in schooling ages as independent variables. This paper shows that there are some substantive differences in the effects of the independent variables upon the probability of household savings in men´s and women headed households. The most important differences being education level with a mayor impact in households with a feminine head, other members of the household incomes. The remittances from the USA work in the same direction which suggests that these may be filling the vacuum left by migrant men. Contrariwise the presence of small children, government transferences, access to credit diminish the probability of saving for women.