G²LM|LIC - Tracking the Value of Time of Informal Sector Workers During and Post-Curfew in Nairobi

Poverty entails more than a scarcity of material resources—it also involves a shortage of time. To examine the causal benefits of reducing time poverty, we conducted a longitudinal field experiment over six consecutive weeks in an urban slum in Kenya with a sample of working mothers, a population who is especially likely to experience severe time poverty. Participants received vouchers for services designed to reduce their burden of unpaid labor. We compared the effect of these vouchers against equivalently valued unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) and a neutral control condition. Participants completed a detailed survey. As part of this survey, they provided contact information and then they completed a series of subjective well-being measures from prior research. Specifically, participants answered questions about their overall subjective well-being and their positive and negative emotions. Participants then completed demographic items including their gender, age, marital status, whether they were currently living with their partner, or were the head of the household. They also reported on the highest level of formal education they had completed, the number of children they had living at home, their current childcare status, and they answered a series of income questions including how many people they financially supported, how many people relied on their income. Third, they answered a series of employment questions including whether they currently worked for pay, how many jobs they worked, what kinds of jobs they worked in, how much money they earned per month, how their earnings and employment status had changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether they were currently looking for new employment opportunities and why. Fourth, respondents answered questions about the earnings of their household members and the amount of savings and debt that they had, and how these estimates had changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants also reported how many hours they spent on unpaid labor in the past 7 days, and whether they had experienced any of the negative impacts of COVID-19 for their own health and their concerns with COVID-19 exposure. Participants also reported how valuable they felt their time was on a series of different measures. Lastly, participants reported how much money they expected to earn in the next six months as well as their predictions for their expenses over the next 6 months.

贫困的内涵远不止物质资源匮乏，还包括时间资源的稀缺。为探究缓解时间贫困的因果效应，我们于肯尼亚某城市贫民区内开展了一项为期六周的纵向实地实验（longitudinal field experiment），研究样本为在职母亲群体——该群体尤为容易陷入严重的时间贫困。参与者将获得旨在减轻其无酬劳动负担的服务代金券。我们将此类代金券的干预效果与等值的无条件现金转移支付（unconditional cash transfers, UCTs）以及中性对照条件进行了对比。参与者需完成一份详尽的调查问卷。作为调查的一部分，他们首先提供联系方式，随后完成一系列源自既往研究的主观幸福感测项。具体而言，参与者需回答有关整体主观幸福感、积极情绪与消极情绪的相关问题。随后，参与者需填写人口统计学相关条目，涵盖性别、年龄、婚姻状况、当前是否与伴侣同住、是否为户主；此外还需报告其完成的最高正规教育水平、家中同住子女数量、当前育儿状况，并回答一系列收入相关问题，包括其经济供养的人数、依赖其收入生活的人数。第三，参与者需完成一系列就业相关问题，包括当前是否从事带薪工作、从事的工作数量、具体职业类型、月收入金额、新冠疫情期间其收入与就业状况的变化情况，以及当前是否在寻求新的就业机会及其原因。第四，受访者需回答有关家庭成员收入、自身储蓄与债务规模，以及新冠疫情期间此类估算值的变化情况。参与者还需报告过去7天内其投入无酬劳动的时长，以及自身是否遭受新冠疫情对健康的负面影响、是否存在新冠暴露相关的担忧。此外，参与者需通过一系列不同测项评估其对自身时间价值的感知。最后，参与者需报告其未来六个月的预期收入，以及对未来六个月开支的预测。