IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp17089.html

The Intergenerational Health Effects of Child Marriage Bans

Author

Listed:
  • Le, Dung D.

    (Waseda University)

  • Molina, Teresa

    (University of Hawaii at Manoa)

  • Ibuka, Yoko

    (Keio University)

  • Goto, Rei

    (Keio University)

Abstract

Using data from 18 countries, we investigate the effects of child marriage bans on infant and under-5 mortality. We use variation in mothers' exposure to the ban across cohorts within each country and regional variation in "treatment intensity," calculated based on child marriage prevalence and marriage age prior to the ban. We find that child marriage bans reduced infant and under-5 mortality, with magnitudes of 14.3 and 19.9 percent corresponding to a one standard deviation change in treatment intensity. Reductions were driven by low-income countries and less wealthy households, primarily due to increases in age at first marriage and birth.

Suggested Citation

  • Le, Dung D. & Molina, Teresa & Ibuka, Yoko & Goto, Rei, 2024. "The Intergenerational Health Effects of Child Marriage Bans," IZA Discussion Papers 17089, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17089
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp17089.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Le, Dung D. & Nguyen, Minh T. & Ibuka, Yoko, 2025. "Intergenerational effects of education on child mortality: Evidence from the compulsory primary schooling law in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    2. Douglas Almond & Janet Currie & Valentina Duque, 2018. "Childhood Circumstances and Adult Outcomes: Act II," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1360-1446, December.
    3. Barofsky, Jeremy & Anekwe, Tobenna D. & Chase, Claire, 2015. "Malaria eradication and economic outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Uganda," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 118-136.
    4. Shin-Yi Chou & Jin-Tan Liu & Michael Grossman & Ted Joyce, 2010. "Parental Education and Child Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Taiwan," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 33-61, January.
    5. Vinci Chow & Eva Vivalt, 2022. "Challenges in Changing Social Norms: Evidence from Interventions Targeting Child Marriage in Ethiopia," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 31(3), pages 183-210.
    6. Nina Buchmann & Erica Field & Rachel Glennerster & Shahana Nazneen & Xiao Yu Wang, 2023. "A Signal to End Child Marriage: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(10), pages 2645-2688, October.
    7. Kammerlander, Andreas & Schulze, Günther G., 2023. "Local economic growth and infant mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    8. Hélène Giacobino & Elise Huillery & Bastien Michel & Mathilde Sage, 2024. "Schoolgirls, Not Brides: Education as a Shield against Child Marriage," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 109-143, October.
    9. Ambrus, Attila & Field, Erica, 2008. "Early Marriage, Age of Menarche, and Female Schooling Attainment in Bangladesh," Scholarly Articles 3200264, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    10. Maria Kuecken & Josselin Thuilliez & Marie-Anne Valfort, 2021. "Disease and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from the Roll Back Malaria Partnership in Africa," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(637), pages 2171-2202.
    11. Prashant Bharadwaj, 2015. "Impact of Changes in Marriage Law: Implications for Fertility and School Enrollment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(3), pages 614-654.
    12. Chunbei Wang & Le Wang, 2017. "Knot yet: minimum marriage age law, marriage delay, and earnings," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 771-804, July.
    13. Brantly Callaway & Andrew Goodman-Bacon & Pedro H. C. Sant'Anna, 2024. "Event Studies with a Continuous Treatment," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 114, pages 601-605, May.
    14. 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.
    15. Jorge Garcia-Hombrados, 2022. "Child marriage and infant mortality: causal evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 1163-1223, July.
    16. Katy Bergstrom & Berk Özler, 2023. "Improving the Well-Being of Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(2), pages 179-212.
    17. Gordon Dahl, 2010. "Early teen marriage and future poverty," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(3), pages 689-718, August.
    18. Keats, Anthony, 2018. "Women's schooling, fertility, and child health outcomes: Evidence from Uganda's free primary education program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 142-159.
    19. Rokicki, Slawa, 2021. "Impact of family law reform on adolescent reproductive health in Ethiopia: A quasi-experimental study," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    20. Frances Lu & Tom Vogl, 2023. "Intergenerational Persistence in Child Mortality," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 93-110, March.
    21. Jian Huang & Wim Groot & John G. Sessions & Yinyen Tseng, 2019. "Age of Menarche, Adolescent Sexual Intercourse and Schooling Attainment of Women," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 81(4), pages 717-743, August.
    22. Bahadir Dursun & Resul Cesur & Inas Rashad Kelly, 2017. "The Value of Mandating Maternal Education in a Developing Country," NBER Working Papers 23492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Duncan Thomas & John Strauss & Maria-Helena Henriques, 1991. "How Does Mother's Education Affect Child Height?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 26(2), pages 183-211.
    24. Sarah Baird & Jed Friedman & Norbert Schady, 2011. "Aggregate Income Shocks and Infant Mortality in the Developing World," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(3), pages 847-856, August.
    25. Corno, Lucia & Voena, Alessandra, 2023. "Child marriage as informal insurance: Empirical evidence and policy simulations," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    26. Grépin, Karen A. & Bharadwaj, Prashant, 2015. "Maternal education and child mortality in Zimbabwe," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 97-117.
    27. Naveen Sunder, 2019. "Marriage Age, Social Status, and Intergenerational Effects in Uganda," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(6), pages 2123-2146, December.
    28. Chari, A.V. & Heath, Rachel & Maertens, Annemie & Fatima, Freeha, 2017. "The causal effect of maternal age at marriage on child wellbeing: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 42-55.
    29. Janet Currie, 2009. "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 87-122, March.
    30. Michael W. Walker & Alice H. Huang & Suleiman Asman & Sarah J. Baird & Lia Fernald & Joan Hamory Hicks & Fernando Hoces de la Guardia & Satoshi Koiso & Michael Kremer & Matthew N. Krupoff & Michelle L, 2023. "Intergenerational Child Mortality Impacts of Deworming: Experimental Evidence from Two Decades of the Kenya Life Panel Survey," NBER Working Papers 31162, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    31. Cornelissen, Thomas & Dang, Thang, 2022. "The multigenerational impacts of educational expansion: Evidence from Vietnam," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    32. 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.
    33. Sheetal Sekhri & Sisir Debnath, 2014. "Intergenerational Consequences of Early Age Marriages of Girls: Effect on Children's Human Capital," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(12), pages 1670-1686, December.
    34. Collin, Matthew & Talbot, Theodore, 2023. "Are age-of-marriage laws enforced? Evidence from developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    35. David Cutler & Winnie Fung & Michael Kremer & Monica Singhal & Tom Vogl, 2010. "Early-Life Malaria Exposure and Adult Outcomes: Evidence from Malaria Eradication in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 72-94, April.
    36. McGavock, Tamara, 2021. "Here waits the bride? The effect of Ethiopia's child marriage law," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    37. Nicholas Wilson, 2022. "Child Marriage Bans and Female Schooling and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Natural Experiments in 17 Low- and Middle-Income Countries," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 449-477, August.
    38. Hoyt Bleakley, 2007. "Disease and Development: Evidence from Hookworm Eradication in the American South," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 73-117.
    39. Adrienne M. Lucas, 2010. "Malaria Eradication and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Paraguay and Sri Lanka," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 46-71, April.
    40. Richard Akresh & Daniel Halim & Marieke Kleemans, 2023. "Long-Term and Intergenerational Effects of Education: Evidence from School Construction in Indonesia," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(650), pages 582-612.
    41. 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.
    42. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shen, Xiuheng & Sun, Yucheng & Zhou, Xianbo, 2025. "The political legacy of disease control: Evidence from a polio vaccination campaign in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

    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. Bipasha Maity & Sumedha Shukla, 2026. "Political regime and women's marriage outcomes," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 93(369), pages 130-159, January.
    2. Rachel Cassidy & Anaya Dam & Wendy Janssens & Umair Kiani & Karlijn Morsink, 2024. "Targeting men, women or both to reduce child marriage," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-087/V, Tinbergen Institute, revised 22 Oct 2024.
    3. Shahjahan, Md & La Mattina, Giulia & Ayyagari, Padmaja, 2025. "The impact of the Female Secondary School Stipend Program on child health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. Adrianna Bella & Nicole Black & Teguh Dartanto & Danusha Jayawardana & Dennis Petrie, 2025. "Beyond the Minimum: The Impact of Indonesia’s Marriage Age Law on Child Marriage and Education," Papers 2025-17, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
    5. Lisa Cameron & Diana Contreras Suarez & Susan Wieczkiewicz, 2023. "Child marriage: using the Indonesian family life survey to examine the lives of women and men who married at an early age," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 725-756, September.
    6. Villar, Paola, 2021. "Paternal mortality, early marriages, and marital trajectories in Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    7. Collin, Matthew & Talbot, Theodore, 2023. "Are age-of-marriage laws enforced? Evidence from developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    8. Abigail Stocker, 2025. "Understanding Child Marriage: Theory and Evidence for Boys and Girls," Working Papers 175, Economics Department, William & Mary.
    9. Hang Thu Nguyen‐Phung & Yijun Yu & Phuc H. Nguyen & Hai Le, 2026. "Maternal Education and Child Development: Insights From Nutritional Status in Kenya," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(5), pages 778-795, May.
    10. Le, Dung D. & Nguyen, Minh T. & Ibuka, Yoko, 2025. "Intergenerational effects of education on child mortality: Evidence from the compulsory primary schooling law in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    11. Hang Thu Nguyen-Phung & Yijun Yu & Phuc H. Nguyen & Hai Le, 2026. "Maternal education and child survival: causal evidence from Kenya," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 99-129, March.
    12. repec:udt:wpecon:wp_gob_2020_11 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Baten, Joerg & de Pleijt, Alexandra M., 2022. "Female autonomy generated successful long-term human capital development: Evidence from 16th to 19th century Europe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    14. Amirapu, Amrit & Asadullah, M Niaz & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2022. "Can Child Marriage Law Affect Attitudes and Behaviour in the Absence of Strict Enforcement? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1107, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    15. Hahn, Youjin & Kwak, Minji & Son, Hyelim, 2025. "Intergenerational effects of parental human capital on children: Evidence from Malawi," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 345-372.
    16. Rokicki, Slawa, 2021. "Impact of family law reform on adolescent reproductive health in Ethiopia: A quasi-experimental study," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    17. 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.
    18. Asker, Erdal & Rees, Daniel I. & Agüero, Jorge, 2025. "Big Sisters and Child Marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa," IZA Discussion Papers 17867, IZA Network @ LISER.
    19. McGavock, Tamara, 2021. "Here waits the bride? The effect of Ethiopia's child marriage law," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    20. Dhamija, Gaurav & Roychowdhury, Punarjit, 2018. "The impact of women's age at marriage on own and spousal labor market outcomes in India: causation or selection?," MPRA Paper 86686, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. repec:ags:aaea22:335954 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Corno, Lucia & Voena, Alessandra, 2023. "Child marriage as informal insurance: Empirical evidence and policy simulations," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:iza:izadps:dp17089. 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: Mark Fallak (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.html .

    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.