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Why the marriage sqeeze cannot cause dowry inflation

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Author Info
Anderson, S. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research)

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Abstract

It has been argued that rising dowry payments are caused by population growth. According to that explanation, termed the `marriage squeeze', a population increase leads to an excess supply of brides since men marry younger women. As a result, dowry payments rise in order to clear the marriage market. The explanation is essentially static; unmarried brides do not re-enter the marriage market. This paper demonstrates that the marriage squeeze argument cannot explain dowry inflation in a proper dynamic framework. In fact, when women, who do not find matches at the `desirable' marrying age, re-enter the marriage market as older brides, (as is the case in areas undergoing dowry inflation), the marriage squeeze argument is shown to imply dowry deflation.

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Paper provided by Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research in its series Discussion Paper with number 86.

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Date of creation: 2000
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Handle: RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200086

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Web page: http://center.uvt.nl

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends and Forecasts
J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Maristella Botticini & Aloysius Siow, 2003. "Why Dowries?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1385-1398, September. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
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  1. Raj Arunachalam & Trevon Logan, 2008. "Is There Dowry Inflation in South Asia?," NBER Working Papers 13905, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-25.

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