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Female education, marital assortative mating, and dowry: Theory and evidence from districts of India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2021

Prarthna Agarwal Goel Open the ORCID record for Prarthna Agarwal Goel [Opens in a new window]  and
Rashmi Barua
Prarthna Agarwal Goel*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Room 318 E, Block C, University School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, 16 C, Dwarka, New Delhi, India
Rashmi Barua
Affiliation:
Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: prarthnagl@gmail.com
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Abstract

We study marital assortative mating in education and its relation to dowry in India. There are four main results and contributions of this paper. First, instrumental variable estimates using Indian Human Development Survey-II data suggest existence of positive assortative mating in education levels of husband and wife. Second, this association is weaker in dowry-prominent districts suggesting that in districts with strong patriarchal norms, high dowry transfers could substitute for lower bride's education. Third, we study the independent effect of husband's and wife's education and its interaction on dowry. Estimates suggest that dowry rises with the groom's education and falls with the bride's schooling years. However, the joint effect of husband-and-wife education on dowry is negative, implying that though dowry rises with groom's education, the rate of increase is smaller the more educated the bride is. Finally, to explain the empirical results, we propose a theoretical model of assortative mating in the presence of dowry.

Keywords

Assortative matingdowryeducationIndiamarriage

JEL classification

C01: Econometrics J12: Marriage • Marital Dissolution • Family Structure • Domestic Abuse J16: Economics of Gender • Non-labor Discrimination I38: Government Policy • Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
Type
Research Paper
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 89 , Issue 2 , June 2023 , pp. 183 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2021

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