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Marriage payments and wives’ welfare: All you need is love

Author

Listed:
  • Rozenn Hotte

    (IRJI - Institut de Recherche Juridique Interdisciplinaire - UT - Université de Tours)

  • Sylvie Lambert

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

Abstract

Bride price is essential to marriage in West Africa, and its impact on wives' well-being in their marital life is a matter of debate. According to our data from Senegal, transfers to the bride's family characterize approximately 85% of marriages. Furthermore, although this is largely ignored in the literature, these marriages are also characterized by the simultaneous existence of other marriage payments, which flow in different directions between the stakeholders. This paper studies the relationship between these multiple marriage payments and the well-being of the wife in her household. We use a unique survey that asks separate questions about the different types of marriage payments. We highlight the strength of the link between what is given to the bride herself and her welfare, as opposed to the looseness of the relation between this welfare and what is given to her family.

Suggested Citation

  • Rozenn Hotte & Sylvie Lambert, 2023. "Marriage payments and wives’ welfare: All you need is love," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-04192617, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-04192617
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103141
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Elsa GAUTRAIN & Hugues CHAMPEAUX & Karine MARAZYAN, 2024. "Men's premarital migration and marriage payments: Evidence from Indonesia," FSES Working Papers 534, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    3. Marazyan, Karine, 2025. "The effects of rainfall shocks on divorce requests: Evidence from Colonial Senegal," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 317-344.
    4. Madhulika Khanna & Nishtha Kochhar, 2023. "Do marriage markets respond to a natural disaster? The impact of flooding of the Kosi river in India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2241-2276, October.
    5. Deschênes, Sarah & Dumas, Christelle & Lambert, Sylvie, 2020. "Household resources and individual strategies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    6. 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).

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    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

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