Data about money within the household: Exploring the challenges and gaps

Examining the sharing, management, distribution, and expenditure of household resources is methodologically challenging due to significant gaps in (quantitative) data, as well as some issues of quality. While various surveys have allowed some insight into some of the crucial questions raised about intra-household sharing, especially in relation to income pooling, management of resources, and deprivation, the picture is far from complete. This chapter discusses some of the key challenges and gaps in relation to methodological approaches and the impact of data collection tools on measurement, including difficulties in identifying the recipient of different income components, individualising deprivation measures, data quality, and the sensitivity of variables needed to further our knowledge. We argue that both the breadth and quality of existing approaches and tools need to be developed in order to enhance the quality and societal impact of research on these issues as well as its policy relevance.