Monetary incentives on inter-caste marriages in India: Theory and evidence
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Hortacsu, Ali; Hwang, Sam Il Myoung; Mathur, Divya
署名单位：
University of Chicago; University of British Columbia; Analysis Group Inc.
刊物名称：
JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
ISSN/ISSBN：
0304-3878
DOI：
10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.102371
发表日期：
2019
关键词：
摘要：
We study the effect of a policy in India that offers monetary incentives to inter-caste marriages, in which one of the spouses is of historically disadvantaged castes, i.e., Scheduled Castes, and the other is not. We show that, in theory, the monetary incentives increase the incidence of exogamy, but may reduce the welfare of certain caste or gender. Building on our theoretical analysis, we estimate the effect of the monetary incentives on the incidence of exogamy, the welfare and inter-spousal transfers using National Family and Health Survey data. We find that a 10,000-rupee increase in the incentive raises the exogamy between Scheduled Caste men and non-Scheduled Caste women by 4 percent in rural India; however, we also find that the same increase reduces the welfare of women in rural areas.