The Perceived Marital Returns to Education and the Demand for Girls’ Schooling

Rossella Calvi (), Hira Farooqi () and Eeshani Kandpal
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Rossella Calvi: Rice University
Hira Farooqi: Center for Global Development

No 709, Working Papers from Center for Global Development

Abstract: We study how marriage market considerations influence parental investments in daughters’ education in Pakistan. Using a hypothetical choice methodology, we estimate parents’ preferences and willingness-to-pay for marital customs and daughters’ marital and post-marital outcomes. Our findings highlight considerable heterogeneity between mothers and fathers, even within the same family. On average, fathers prioritize adherence to traditional customs, while mothers emphasize daughters’ post-marital agency. Using a model of schooling decisions that incorporates these preferences, perceived costs, and parental beliefs about marital returns to education, we examine educational investments. Counterfactual simulations show that belief-targeting campaigns and policies boosting mothers’ decision-power could significantly improve girls’ education.

JEL-codes: D13 I31 J12 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59 pages
Date: 2024-12-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cgd:wpaper:709

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