The Economics of Female Genital Cutting

Tatyana Chesnokova () and Rhema Vaithianathan

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2010, vol. 10, issue 1, 28

Abstract: The practice of female genital cutting (FGC) has a long history in Africa and it is thought that over 130 million females alive today have undergone the practice. In this paper, we model FGC as a pre-marital investment. We show how the rat-race nature of the marriage market may result in inefficiently high equilibrium levels of FGC. We argue that in this case, regulation results in a (potential) Pareto improvement and that even weak regulation can be effective in eradicating FGC.

Keywords: female genital cutting; marriage; pre-marital investment; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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DOI: 10.2202/1935-1682.2565

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