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Missing daughters, missing brides?

Author

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  • d’Albis, Hippolyte
  • de la Croix, David

Abstract

Even in countries where there is a male-biased sex ratio, it is still possible for the marriage market to be balanced if men marry younger women and population is growing. We define a Missing Brides Index to reflect the intensity of the possible imbalance at steady state, taking into account the endogeneity of population growth. Taking international data on ages at marriage, fertility rate, and sex ratio at birth, we rank countries according to the Missing Brides Index.

Suggested Citation

  • d’Albis, Hippolyte & de la Croix, David, 2012. "Missing daughters, missing brides?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(3), pages 358-360.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:116:y:2012:i:3:p:358-360
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2012.03.032
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Christophe Guilmoto, 2012. "Skewed Sex Ratios at Birth and Future Marriage Squeeze in China and India, 2005–2100," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(1), pages 77-100, February.
    2. Neelakantan, Urvi & Tertilt, Michèle, 2008. "A note on marriage market clearing," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 103-105, November.
    3. V. Bhaskar, 2011. "Sex Selection and Gender Balance," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 214-244, February.
    4. Siwan Anderson & Debraj Ray, 2010. "Missing Women: Age and Disease," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(4), pages 1262-1300.
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Visite guidée au coeur des travaux du Meilleur jeune économiste 2012 (2/2)
      by Matthieu Solignac in Regards croisés sur l'économie on 2012-06-11 03:05:40

    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    2. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Debasish Nandy & Suddhasil Siddhanta, 2020. "“Opt out” or kept out? The effect of stigma, structure, selection, and sector on the labor force participation of married women in India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 927-948, August.
    3. Bhalotra, Sonia & Amaral, Sofia, 2017. "Population sex ratios and violence against women: the long-run effects of sex selection in India," ISER Working Paper Series 2017-12, Institute for Social and Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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