The effect of marital endowments on domestic violence in India

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Menon, Seetha
• 署名单位: University of Southern Denmark
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.102389
• 发表日期: 2020
• 关键词: domestic violence; dowry; Intra-household bargaining

摘要

Numerous studies have documented a relationship between income and wealth of a woman and domestic violence. One such factor that could potentially impact domestic violence is the gold endowment a woman receives at the time of marriage. India presents a unique setting in which to test this relationship as, despite being unlawful, both dowry practices and domestic violence continue to prevail. As actual marital endowments may endogenously affect spousal match quality, I use the deviation of the price of gold at the time of marriage from its long-term trend as a source of exogenous variation to proxy for initial marital endowment and examine its effect on domestic violence. Results show a positive and significant effect of an unusually high price of gold at the time of marriage on domestic violence.