IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/reveho/v21y2023i3d10.1007_s11150-022-09615-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effects of a negative economic shock on male marriage in the West Bank

Author

Listed:
  • Amr Ragab

    (Nile University)

  • Ayhab F. Saad

    (Doha Institute for Graduate Studies)

Abstract

This study examines how a large negative economic shock impacts marriage rates for young men in the West Bank. Utilizing data from before and after the sudden and abrupt closure of the Israeli labor market for Palestinian commuters from the West Bank in 2001, our empirical design employs a difference-in-difference strategy and uses the variations in localities’ exposure to the Israeli labor market before the shock. The closure reduced the employment and income of adult men asymmetrically across localities. Our findings show that the closure caused a reduction in marriage rates among young men aged 19 to 29 years, as post-shock changes in marriage rates. Our results suggest that the adverse effect of the economic shock on male marriage is mediated through a combination of rising youth unemployment and rigid expectations about marriage costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Amr Ragab & Ayhab F. Saad, 2023. "The effects of a negative economic shock on male marriage in the West Bank," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 789-814, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:21:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11150-022-09615-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-022-09615-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11150-022-09615-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11150-022-09615-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ragui Assaad & Christine Binzel & May Gadallah, 2010. "Transitions To Employment And Marriage Among Young Men In Egypt," Middle East Development Journal (MEDJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(01), pages 39-88.
    2. David S. Loughran & Julie M. Zissimopoulos, 2009. "Why Wait?: The Effect of Marriage and Childbearing on the Wages of Men and Women," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(2).
    3. David Autor & David Dorn & Gordon Hanson, 2019. "When Work Disappears: Manufacturing Decline and the Falling Marriage Market Value of Young Men," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 161-178, September.
    4. Angrist, Joshua D, 1996. "Short-Run Demand for Palestinian Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 425-453, July.
    5. Di Maio, Michele & Nisticò, Roberto, 2019. "The effect of parental job loss on child school dropout: Evidence from the Occupied Palestinian Territories," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    6. Lucia Corno & Nicole Hildebrandt & Alessandra Voena, 2020. "Age of Marriage, Weather Shocks, and the Direction of Marriage Payments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(3), pages 879-915, May.
    7. Krisztina Kis-Katos & Janneke Pieters & Robert Sparrow, 2018. "Globalization and Social Change: Gender-Specific Effects of Trade Liberalization in Indonesia," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 66(4), pages 763-793, December.
    8. Di Maio, Michele & Nandi, Tushar K., 2013. "The effect of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict on child labor and school attendance in the West Bank," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 107-116.
    9. M. Niaz Asadullah & Zaki Wahhaj, 2019. "Early Marriage, Social Networks and the Transmission of Norms," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(344), pages 801-831, October.
    10. Sami Miaari & Robert Sauer, 2011. "The labor market costs of conflict: closures, foreign workers, and Palestinian employment and earnings," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 129-148, March.
    11. Saad, Ayhab F. & Fallah, Belal, 2020. "How educational choices respond to large labor market shocks: Evidence from a natural experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    12. Francesco Amodio & Michele Di Maio, 2018. "Making Do With What You Have: Conflict, Input Misallocation and Firm Performance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(615), pages 2559-2612, November.
    13. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Mallick, Debdulal & Roy Chowdhury, Prabal, 2020. "Natural shocks and marriage markets: Fluctuations in mehr and dowry in Muslim marriages," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    14. Dana Rotz, 2016. "Why Have Divorce Rates Fallen?: The Role of Women’s Age at Marriage," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(4), pages 961-1002.
    15. Ragui Assaad & Christine Binzel & May Gadallah, 2010. "Transitions to Employment and Marriage Among Young Men in Egypt," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 39-88, January.
    16. Momoe Makino, 2019. "Marriage, dowry, and women’s status in rural Punjab, Pakistan," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 769-797, July.
    17. Miaari, Sami & Zussman, Asaf & Zussman, Noam, 2014. "Employment restrictions and political violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 24-44.
    18. Caroline Krafft & Ragui Assaad, 2020. "Employment’s Role in Enabling and Constraining Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2297-2325, December.
    19. Mansour, Hani, 2010. "The effects of labor supply shocks on labor market outcomes: Evidence from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 930-939, December.
    20. Melissa S. Kearney & Riley Wilson, 2018. "Male Earnings, Marriageable Men, and Nonmarital Fertility: Evidence from the Fracking Boom," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(4), pages 678-690, October.
    21. Jessamyn Schaller, 2013. "For richer, if not for poorer? Marriage and divorce over the business cycle," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(3), pages 1007-1033, July.
    22. Angrist, Joshua D, 1995. "The Economic Returns to Schooling in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1065-1087, December.
    23. Valerie Oppenheimer & Matthijs Kalmijn & Nelson Lim, 1997. "Men’s career development and marriage timing during a period of rising inequality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 34(3), pages 311-330, August.
    24. Penny Johnson, 2010. "Unmarried in Palestine: Embodiment and (dis)Empowerment in the Lives of Single Palestinian Women," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(2), pages 106-115, March.
    25. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan & Hassan Fereidouni Gholipour, 2016. "Divorce and the cost of housing: evidence from Iran," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 1029-1054, December.
    26. Tilman Brück & Michele Di Maio & Sami H Miaari, 2019. "Learning The Hard Way: The Effect of Violent Conflict on Student Academic Achievement," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(5), pages 1502-1537.
    27. Ariella Kahn-Lang & Kevin Lang, 2020. "The Promise and Pitfalls of Differences-in-Differences: Reflections on 16 and Pregnant and Other Applications," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 613-620, July.
    28. 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.
    29. Ambrus, Attila & Field, Erica, 2008. "Early Marriage, Age of Menarche, and Female Schooling Attainment in Bangladesh," Scholarly Articles 3200264, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    30. Junhong Chu & Haoming Liu & I. P. L. Png, 2018. "Nonlabor Income and Age at Marriage: Evidence From China’s Heating Policy," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2345-2370, December.
    31. Francesco Amodio & Leonardo Baccini & Michele Di Maio, 2021. "Security, Trade, and Political Violence," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 1-37.
    32. Attila Ambrus & Erica Field & Maximo Torero, 2010. "Muslim Family Law, Prenuptial Agreements, and the Emergence of Dowry in Bangladesh," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 1349-1397.
    33. David Bishai & Shoshana Grossbard, 2010. "Far above rubies: Bride price and extramarital sexual relations in Uganda," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(4), pages 1177-1187, September.
    34. Alexei Abrahams, 2018. "Hard Traveling: Commuting Costs and Urban Unemployment with Deficient Labor Demand," Empirical Studies of Conflict Project (ESOC) Working Papers 8, Empirical Studies of Conflict Project.
    35. Daniel Schneider & Orestes Hastings, 2015. "Socioeconomic Variation in the Effect of Economic Conditions on Marriage and Nonmarital Fertility in the United States: Evidence From the Great Recession," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1893-1915, December.
    36. Siwan Anderson, 2007. "The Economics of Dowry and Brideprice," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(4), pages 151-174, Fall.
    37. Jonah M Rexer, 2022. "The Brides of Boko Haram: Economic Shocks, Marriage Practices, and Insurgency in Nigeria," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(645), pages 1927-1977.
    38. Assaf Zimring, 2019. "Testing the HeckscherOhlinVanek theory with a natural experiment," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(1), pages 58-92, February.
    39. Erica Field & Attila Ambrus, 2008. "Early Marriage, Age of Menarche, and Female Schooling Attainment in Bangladesh," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 881-930, October.
    40. Ruppert Blumer, Elizabeth, 2003. "The Impact of Israeli Border Policy on the Palestinian Labor Market," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(3), pages 657-676, April.
    41. Assaf Zimring, 2019. "Testing the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek theory with a natural experiment," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(1), pages 58-92, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Saad, Ayhab F. & Fallah, Belal, 2020. "How educational choices respond to large labor market shocks: Evidence from a natural experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Sameh Hallaq, 2020. "The Palestinian Labor Market over the Last Three Decades," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_976, Levy Economics Institute.
    3. Belal Fallah & Ayhab Saad, 2018. "Schooling Choices’ Responses to Labor Market Shocks: Evidence From a Natural Experiment," Working Papers 1227, Economic Research Forum, revised 18 Sep 2018.
    4. Di Maio, Michele & Nisticò, Roberto, 2019. "The effect of parental job loss on child school dropout: Evidence from the Occupied Palestinian Territories," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    5. Hendrik Jürges & Luca Stella & Sameh Hallaq & Alexandra Schwarz, 2022. "Cohort at risk: long-term consequences of conflict for child school achievement," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 1-43, January.
    6. Junhong Chu & Haoming Liu & I. P. L. Png, 2018. "Nonlabor Income and Age at Marriage: Evidence From China’s Heating Policy," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2345-2370, December.
    7. Calì, Massimiliano & Miaari, Sami H., 2018. "The labor market impact of mobility restrictions: Evidence from the West Bank," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 136-151.
    8. Lucia Corno & Nicole Hildebrandt & Alessandra Voena, 2020. "Age of Marriage, Weather Shocks, and the Direction of Marriage Payments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(3), pages 879-915, May.
    9. Amirapu, Amrit & Asadullah, M. Niaz & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2022. "Social barriers to female migration: Theory and evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    10. Villar, Paola, 2021. "Paternal mortality, early marriages, and marital trajectories in Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    11. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Singh, Prachi, 2023. "Information Campaign on Arsenic Poisoning: Unintended Consequences in Marriage Market," IZA Discussion Papers 16214, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Saqib Jafarey & Ram Mainali & Gabriel Montes‐Rojas, 2020. "Age at marriage, social norms, and female education in Nepal," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 878-909, August.
    13. Sameh Hallaq, 2019. "Wage Differential between Palestinian Non-refugees and Palestinian Refugees in the West Bank and Gaza," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_941, Levy Economics Institute.
    14. Corno, Lucia & Voena, Alessandra, 2023. "Child marriage as informal insurance: Empirical evidence and policy simulations," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    15. H. Champeaux & E. Gautrain & K. Marazyan, 2024. "Men's premarital migration and marriage payments: Evidence from Indonesia," Working Paper CRENoS 202402, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    16. Chiplunkar, Gaurav & Weaver, Jeffrey, 2023. "Marriage markets and the rise of dowry in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    17. 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.
    18. Isabelle Chort & Rozenn Hotte & Karine Marazyan, 2021. "Income shocks, bride price and child marriage in Turkey," Working papers of Transitions Energétiques et Environnementales (TREE) hal-03258215, HAL.
    19. Etkes, Haggay, 2011. "The impact of employment in Israel on the Palestinian labor force (2005–08)," MPRA Paper 34681, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Tapsoba, Augustin, 2021. "Polygyny and the Economic Determinants of Family Formation Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa," TSE Working Papers 21-1240, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:21:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11150-022-09615-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.