Why the marriage squeeze cannot cause dowry inflation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Anderson, Siwan
• 署名单位: University of British Columbia
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2005.09.007
• 发表日期: 2007
• 页码: 140-152
• 关键词: dowry; Population growth; marriage

摘要

An influential explanation for rising dowry payments is the marriage squeeze. The present paper shows this explanation to be internally inconsistent. The marriage squeeze argument for inflation relies on the fact that population growth leads to an excess supply of brides in the marriage market. This excess supply is resolved by some women postponing marriage, so that the average age of brides increases. In previous studies the argument is stated informally. Here, a matching model of marriage is developed to formally analyze the link between dowry payments and population growth. It is shown that a marriage squeeze cannot yield dowry inflation. In fact, when women who do not find matches at the 'desirable' marrying age re-enter the marriage market as older brides, a marriage squeeze is shown to imply dowry deflation. Population change is therefore not a promising explanation for the observed increases in dowry payments. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.