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No toilet no bride? Intrahousehold bargaining in male-skewed marriage markets in India

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  • Stopnitzky, Yaniv

Abstract

Haryana state in India is characterized by widespread discrimination against women, including a severe population-level sex imbalance. In this context an innovative social marketing campaign, which targeted pro-sanitation messages to households active in local marriage markets, was implemented with the goal of increasing toilet ownership. This paper estimates the impact of this program, known colloquially as “No Toilet No Bride”, on household-level latrine ownership. Private sanitation coverage in Haryana increased by 21% specifically among households with boys active on the marriage market. This effect is larger and concentrated in marriage markets where women are relatively scarce and absent when women are relatively abundant, which together suggest the program operated by successfully linking sanitation outcomes with marriage market competition induced by local scarcities of women due to male-biased sex ratios.

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  • Stopnitzky, Yaniv, 2017. "No toilet no bride? Intrahousehold bargaining in male-skewed marriage markets in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 269-282.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:127:y:2017:i:c:p:269-282
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.04.003
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    2. Evan Plous Kresch & Molly Lipscomb & Laura Schechter, 2020. "Externalities and Spillovers from Sanitation and Waste Management in Urban and Rural Neighborhoods," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3), pages 395-420, September.
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    9. Stopnitzky, Yaniv, 2016. "Changing preferences through experimental games: Evidence from sanitation and hygiene in Tamil Nadu," IFPRI discussion papers 1587, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
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    11. Zhang, Junsen & Fei, Shulan & Wen, Yanbing, 2023. "How Does the Beauty of Wives Affect Post-marriage Family Outcomes? Helen's Face in Chinese Households," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 122-137.
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    13. Revilla, Ma. Laarni D. & Qu, Fangqi & Seetharam, K E & Rao, Bhanoji, 2021. "“Sanitation” in the Top Development Journals: A Review," ADBI Working Papers 1253, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    14. Pakhtigian, Emily L. & Dickinson, Katherine L. & Orgill-Meyer, Jennifer & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K., 2022. "Sustaining latrine use: Peers, policies, and sanitation behaviors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 223-242.
    15. Anna Lunn, 2020. "Urban family ties and household latrines in rural India: A cross-sectional analysis of national data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, July.
    16. Wang, Dongqin & Shen, Yanni, 2022. "Sanitation and work time: Evidence from the toilet revolution in rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    17. Herrera-Almanza, Catalina & Rosales-Rueda, Maria F., 2020. "Reducing the Cost of Remoteness: Community-Based Health Interventions and Fertility Choices," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    18. Deepak Saraswat, 2018. "Gender Composition of Children and Sanitation Behavior In India," Working papers 2018-12, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    19. Augsburg, Britta & Baquero, Juan P. & Gautam, Sanghmitra & Rodriguez-Lesmes, Paul, 2023. "Sanitation and marriage markets in India: Evidence from the Total Sanitation Campaign," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    20. Alex Armand & Britta Augsburg & Antonella Bancalari, 2021. "Coordination and the poor maintenance trap: an experiment on public infrastructure in India," IFS Working Papers W21/16, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
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    23. Khor, Ling Yee & Sariyev, Orkhan & Loos, Tim, 2020. "Gender differences in risk behavior and the link to household effects and individual wealth," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

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