Premarital migration and marriage payments: Evidence from Indonesian men

Hugues Champeaux (), Elsa Gautrain and Karine Marazyan ()
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Hugues Champeaux: GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - UJM EPE - Université Jean Monnet (EPSCPE) - EM - EMLyon Business School - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - UJM EPE - Université Jean Monnet (EPSCPE)
Elsa Gautrain: University of Friburg, DEVSOC - UMR Développement et Sociétés - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
Karine Marazyan: LERN - Laboratoire d'Economie Rouen Normandie - UNIROUEN - Université de Rouen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - IRIHS - Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire Homme et Société - UNIROUEN - Université de Rouen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université, DEVSOC - UMR Développement et Sociétés - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement

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Abstract: While bride price customs are widespread in many developing countries, little is known about their consequences on men's decisions. In this paper, we exploit a quasi-natural experiment of a school-building program in Indonesia (INPRES) to investigate the relationship between marriage norms and the internal migrations of young men. Combining anthropological, administrative, and individual-based datasets, we implement a triple-difference approach. We show that the less advantaged young men, who have fewer resources to cope with rising marriage costs, are more likely to migrate out of their district of origin when the women they are expected to marry benefit from the program. These findings suggest that the interaction between marital norms and policies can result in unintended consequences, shaping major economic decisions such as premarital migration.

Date: 2026-10
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Published in Journal of Comparative Economics, 2026, ⟨10.1016/j.jce.2026.09.004⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05776841

DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2026.09.004

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