Valuation of Time and Money

This tool is composed of questions, vignettes and a simple scale to understand how men and women value additional time (including work flexibility) versus additional income, their current level of control over their time and income, and their related gender attitudes. Understanding individuals’ preferences over time and money is crucial for accurately capturing welfare and the impact of development programs. Moreover, measuring disparities in how men and women perceive and manage their time and financial resources is crucial for inclusive policymaking.

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

Duration: This tool takes on average 9.07 minutes to be implemented.

Permitted use of the tool: users are free to use the tool with citation “MAGNET (2023). Valuation of Time and Money. http://magnet.ifpri.info/valuation-of-time-and-money/”

Tool sample

This tool consists of 6 modules: Wage earning, Labor costs, Vignettes, Attitudes around time/money trade-off valuation, a Ladder, and a Ranking. They are focused on rural workers but can be adapted to different contexts.

Survey Questions: Income

1. Imagine I were to offer you a job. The job consists of {insert locally appropriate description}, and wages would be paid in cash to you. The employer would set the days and hours that you would work. What would the daily wage have to be for you to be interested in the job (that is, work there full-time for at least the coming agricultural season)?
2. Imagine I were to offer you a job. The job consists of {insert locally appropriate description}, and wages would be paid in cash to your spouse. The employer would set the days and hours that you would work. What would the daily wage have to be for you to be interested in the job (that is, work there full-time for at least the coming agricultural season)?

Survey questions: Labor substitution

3. Imagine I were to pay you ${X}, but for some of that ${X}, I could find a good laborer to work on your field for one day, and I would deduct the labor cost before giving you the ${X}. So, in this case, you are the one paying for your labor. How much would you be willing to pay for this laborer out of this ${X}?
4. Imagine I were to pay your spouse ${X}, but for some of that ${X}, I could find a good laborer to work on your field for one day, and I would deduct the labor cost before giving your spouse the ${X}. So, in this case, your spouse is the one paying for your labor. How much would you be willing to pay for this laborer out of your spouse’s ${X}?

Measurement properties

• Geographies Tested: Rwanda, India
• Populations included: Female, Male
• Age range: Adults

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