Preferences over Joint vs. Individual Asset Rights

Individual-level surveys collecting data on asset ownership have increasingly emphasized eliciting answers regarding whether the ownership or management of the asset is individual or joint. There is often an implicit assumption that individual ownership is better, and potentially more empowering, than joint ownership. But current data don’t provide insights on to whether the respondent would prefer to own and/or manage assets jointly or individually. This module allows us to elicit responses regarding subjective assessments of the well-being of a hypothetical married individual based on whether they own and/or manage assets individually or jointly. The module may be asked about different types of assets such as agricultural land, livestock, or a dwelling. To fully understand ownership and management preferences, it is useful to have this tool as part of a survey with an individual ownership module.

Link to: tool content and guidelines, CTO file, and statistical annex

Duration: This tool takes on average 2.48 minutes to be implemented.

Permitted use of the tool: users are free to use the tool with citation “MAGNET (2023). Preferences over Joint vs. Individual Asset Rights. https://magnet.ifpri.info/preferences-over-joint-vs-individual-asset-rights/”

Tool sample

Example with agricultural land

Enumerator: I will present a scenario to you about a married couple that owns agricultural land and then ask you a question. There is no right or wrong answer. We are interested in your opinion. Peter (man) and Grace (woman) are married. Peter is the husband, and Grace is the wife.

Scenario 1: Peter and Grace own one plot of agricultural land together that is 2 acres. They own it jointly.

Scenario 2: Peter has a plot of agricultural land that is owned exclusively by him. It is 1 acre. Grace has a plot of agricultural land that is owned exclusively by her. It is 1 acre. Both plots are of equal quality.

Response Options

Which scenario do you think would be most desirable to Grace?

• Scenario 1
• Scenario 2
• Grace is indifferent between 1 and 2

Measurement properties 

• Geographies Tested: India, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Côte d'Ivoire
• Populations included: Women, Men
• Age range: Adults

For details on these testing metrics, visit our scoring methodology page.