limited share of productive assets and reduce possible future income generation (e.g., Fafchamps et al. 1998). Alternatively, a number of contexts have demonstrated that household welfare significantly declines in the face of an adverse food price shock, where households reduce diet quality (e.g., Brinkman et al. 2009; D‘Souza and Jolliffe 2012; D‘Souza and Joliffe 2014).

Based on these other contexts, households in Sana‘a might also be forced to adopt a number of these coping strategies. However, the coping strategies in this circumstance might be substantially different. For example, households might find it difficult to sell productive assets given the overall poor condition of economic activity; or, for example, it might be difficult to further sacrifice diet quality given the widespread food insecurity even before the capture of the city (e.g., WFP 2012).

Importantly, these shocks- both the potential tightening of household budgets and the decline in safety- might have significantly different effects on women in the household than men. For example, increasing the constraints on households tends to lead to an excess burden being placed on vulnerable members of the household in a variety of settings (e.g., Rose 1999; Khanna et al. 2003; Miguel 2005; D’Souza and Tandon forthcoming; etc.), which could place an excess burden on women in Yemeni households given the country is typically ranked as having one of the highest (if not the highest) gender gaps in the world (e.g., World Economic Forum 2017). Furthermore, the potential increase in prices might similarly force households to substitute more home-produced goods and services for market-produced goods and services, which would most likely place a higher time burden on household women (e.g., World Development Report 2012). Additionally, the decline in safety might make it more difficult for women to leave the household and lead productive lives than men. In particular, women’s movement and freedom are reported to be significantly curtailed in the country due to safety and family concerns (e.g., World Bank 2012), suggesting that they might even be less free to leave the household and make decisions following the introduction of conflict.

However, it is important to note that the effects of these shocks on women are empirically ambiguous. The decline in household resources might sufficiently burden households such that women are force to take up income generating possibilities and other responsibilities that they were unable to do so before the conflict. As discussed in the Introduction, many news organizations and humanitarian agencies report that women are forced to take on more responsibilities, both inside and outside the household, in response to conflict.

# **3. Data**

The 2014 Household Budget Survey (HBS), conducted by the Central Statistical Organization of Yemen with support from the World Bank, was in progress as the Houthi rebels captured the city of Sana‘a. The survey‘s primary purpose was to update the official poverty rate in Yemen, which had not been updated since 2005. Given the relative lack of violence in the capture of the capital city, the survey was administered before, during, and after the capture of the city. The field work was conducted between January and December of 2014, and the total sample size was of 9391 households.

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