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Hidden costs of industrial disasters: Marriage market consequences of the Bhopal Gas Disaster

Author

Listed:
  • Shreyasee Das

    (Temple University)

  • Shatanjaya Dasgupta

    (Providence College)

Abstract

This paper examines the marriage market consequences of one of the world's deadliest industrial disasters, the 1984 Bhopal Gas Disaster in India. The gas leak resulted in casualties of upwards of 3,000 people and affected over 500,000 people. Using the 2015-16 National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) and a difference-in-difference (DID) strategy, we find that the Bhopal Gas Disaster reduced marriage rates of men and increased the age at marriage for those men who were able to get married. These results are driven by the negative health and employment outcomes of men exposed to the disaster. Additionally, we examine the quality of matches and find a decrease in the spousal educational gap and an increased likelihood of men being matched with women with similar adverse health issues. Our results highlight far-reaching demographic effects beyond the detrimental health effects resulting from industrial disasters.

Suggested Citation

  • Shreyasee Das & Shatanjaya Dasgupta, 2023. "Hidden costs of industrial disasters: Marriage market consequences of the Bhopal Gas Disaster," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(2), pages 813-829.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-22-00474
    as

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    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2023/Volume43/EB-23-V43-I2-P66.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    2. Shreyasee Das & Shatanjaya Dasgupta, 2019. "Marriage Market Responses in the Wake of a Natural Disaster in India," DETU Working Papers 1902, Department of Economics, Temple University.
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    4. Nina Buchmann & Erica M. Field & Rachel Glennerster & Shahana Nazneen & Xiao Yu Wang, 2021. "A Signal to End Child Marriage: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh," NBER Working Papers 29052, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Douglas Almond & Lena Edlund & Mårten Palme, 2009. "Chernobyl's Subclinical Legacy: Prenatal Exposure to Radioactive Fallout and School Outcomes in Sweden," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1729-1772.
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    7. Loren Brandt & Aloysius Siow & Carl Vogel, 2016. "Large Demographic Shocks and Small Changes in the Marriage Market," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 14(6), pages 1437-1468.
    8. Arindam Nandi & Sumit Mazumdar & Jere R. Behrman, 2018. "The effect of natural disaster on fertility, birth spacing, and child sex ratio: evidence from a major earthquake in India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 267-293, January.
    9. Maksim Yemelyanau & Aliaksandr Amialchuk & Mir Ali, 2012. "Erratum to: Evidence from the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident: The Effect on Health, Education, and Labor Market Outcomes in Belarus," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 283-283, June.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bhopal Gas Disaster; India; marriage; health effects; industrial disaster;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior

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