Saving for dowry: Evidence from rural India

S Anukriti, Sungoh Kwon and Nishith Prakash

Journal of Development Economics, 2022, vol. 154, issue C

Abstract: The ancient custom of dowry, i.e., bride-to-groom marriage payments, remains ubiquitous in many contemporary societies. Using data from 1986–2007, this paper examines whether dowry impacts intertemporal resource allocation and other household decisions in rural India. Utilizing variation in firstborn gender and dowry amounts across marriage markets, we find that the prospect of higher dowry payments at the time of a daughter’s marriage leads parents to save more in advance. The higher savings are primarily financed through increased paternal labor supply. This implies that people are farsighted; they work and save more today with payoff in the distant future.

Keywords: Dowry; Marriage payments; India; Savings; Labor supply (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D14 J1 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:154:y:2022:i:c:s0304387821001176

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102750

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