We study how aggregate economic conditions affect the timing of marriage, and particularly
child marriage, in Sub‐Saharan Africa and in India. In both regions, substantial monetary or …

Using a unique dataset that I collected in three villages in semi-arid India, I analyze the role
of perceived returns to education and social norms regarding the ideal age of marriage in …

Dowry payments are common in many marriage markets. This paper uses data on over
74,000 marriages in rural India over the last century to explain why the institution of dowry …

There is widespread concern about whether opening up changes cultural customs.
However, empirical evidence remains limited. In this paper, we provide new evidence on …

Background Despite the prohibition by the law in 1961, dowry is widely prevalent in India.
Dowry stems from the early concept of'Stridhana,'in which gifts were given to the bride by her …

Two thirds of all Indian women have migrated for marriage, around 300 million women, but
little is known about this vast migration. This paper provides a detailed accounting of the …

Secular trends in cohort size cause large marriage market imbalances due to the age gap at
marriage between men and women. Positive cohort growth adversely affects women in …

Research in assortative mating in developing countries focused mainly on the cultural
similarities of individuals till the most recent times. Educational homogamy was not …

This paper introduces a new primary dataset on dowry payments in rural India. A novel
feature of the data is that in addition to eliciting actual dowry payments, we also asked rural …

We document that the US marriage market is characterized by two systematic empirical
patterns. First, there is a quantitatively large, strong, and persistent negative relationship …