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Why dowry payments declined with modernisation in Europe but are rising in India

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

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Abstract

In contrast to most dowry oriented societies where payments have declined with modernisation, those in India have undergone significant inflation over the last five decades. This paper explains the difference between these two experiences by focusing on the role played by caste. The theoretical model contrasts caste and non-caste based societies: in the former, there exists an inherited component to status (caste) which is independent of wealth, while in the latter, wealth is the primary determinant of status. Modernisation is assumed to involve two components: increasing average wealth and increasing wealth dispersion within status (or caste) groups. The paper shows that, in caste-based societies, the increases in wealth dispersion which accompany modernisation necessarily lead to increases in dowry payments, whereas in non-caste case based societies, increased dispersion has no real effect on dowry payments and increasing average wealth causes the payments to decline.

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Paper provided by Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research in its series Discussion Paper with number 7.

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Date of creation: 2001
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Handle: RePEc:dgr:kubcen:20017

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
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

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Botticini, Maristella, 1999. "A Loveless Economy? Intergenerational Altruism and the Marriage Market in a Tuscan Town, 1415?1436," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 59(01), pages 104-121, March. [Downloadable!]
  2. Rao, Vijayendra, 1993. "The Rising Price of Husbands: A Hedonic Analysis of Dowry Increases in Rural India," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(4), pages 666-77, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Junsen Zhang & William Chan, 1999. "Dowry and Wife's Welfare: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(4), pages 786-808, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Stuard, Susan Mosher, 1981. "Dowry Increase and Increments in Wealth in Medieval Ragusa (Dubrovnik)," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(04), pages 795-811, December. [Downloadable!]
  5. Cristina Echevarria & Antonio Merlo, 1995. "Gender differences in education in a dynamic household bargaining model," Staff Report 195, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Maristella Botticini & Aloysius Siow, 2000. "Why Dowries?," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0200, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Dixon, Ruth B, 1982. "Mobilizing Women for Rural Employment in South Asia: Issues of Class, Caste, and Patronage," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(2), pages 373-90, January.
  8. Burdett, Ken & Coles, Melvyn G, 1997. "Marriage and Class," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(1), pages 141-68, February.
  9. Eeckhout, Jan, 2000. "On the uniqueness of stable marriage matchings," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 1-8, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Dasgupta, Indraneel & Maitra, Pushkar & Mukherjee, Diganta, 2008. "‘Arranged’ Marriage, Co-Residence and Female Schooling: A Model with Evidence from India," IZA Discussion Papers 3336, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Maitreesh Ghatak & Jeanne Lafortune, 2009. "Marry for What: Caste and Mate Selection in Modern India," NBER Working Papers 14958, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Philip H. Brown, 2003. "Dowry and Intrahousehold Bargaining: Evidence from China," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 2003-608, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross Business School. [Downloadable!]
  4. Amitrajeet Batabyal, 2005. "A game model of dowry determination in an arranged marriage context," Economics Bulletin, Economics Bulletin, vol. 10(3), pages 1-8. [Downloadable!]
  5. Matthew J. Baker & Joyce P. Jacobsen, 2005. "A Human Capital-Based Theory of Post Marital Residence Rules," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2005-006, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Maitreesh Ghatak & Jeanne Lafortune, 2009. "Marry for What? Caste and Mate Selection in Modern India," STICERD - Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers Series 009, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  7. Carlsson, Fredrik & Gupta, Gautam & Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 2005. "Keeping Up with the Vaishyas: Caste and Relative Standing," Working Papers in Economics 171, Göteborg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Abhijit Banerjee, 2009. "Marry for What? Caste and Mate Selection in Modern India," Working Papers id:2144, esocialsciences.com. [Downloadable!]
  9. Borooah, V. & Iyer, S., 2004. "‘Religion and Fertility in India: The role of son preference and daughter aversion’," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0436, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge. [Downloadable!]
  10. Maristella Botticini & Aloysius Siow, 2003. "Why Dowries?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1385-1398, September. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. 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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