(with Noah Bacine – University of Oxford, and Irene Mussio – Newcastle University Business School and dECON, FCS, Universidad de la República)
Patriarchal societies can inhibit health investments for females because of a lack of self-determination. This may cause gender-disparities in health such as lower female vaccination coverage during childhood. We intent to counteract the imbalance in household decision-making by targeting gender-based behavioral traits of fathers. Research has shown that males exhibit exaggerated competitive preferences. We harness this behavior to encourage fathers to get their children vaccinated. We introduce a campaign leveraging competitive incentives to increase vaccination coverage for children, especially girls. Our hope is to create a scalable campaign that improves overall childhood vaccination rates and reduces child mortality.