Whose education matters? An analysis of inter caste marriages in India

Tridip Ray, Arka Roy Chaudhuri and Komal Sahai

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2020, vol. 176, issue C, 619-633

Abstract: Endogamy or intra-caste marriage is one of the most resilient of all the caste based practices in India. Even in 2011, the rate of inter caste marriages in India was as low as 5.82%. In this paper we explore whether education has any relationship with this age-old practice of marrying within one’s own caste. Using a nationally representative data set, the Indian Human Development Survey, we find that, in sharp contrast with the findings in the existing literature on out-marriages in the Western countries, education levels of the spouses themselves do not have any association with the likelihood of their own marriage being an inter caste one. However, couples with a more educated mother of the husband have a significantly higher probability of being in an inter caste marriage. One standard deviation increase in the years of education of the husband’s mother is associated with a 10.16% increase in the probability of inter caste marriage over the sample mean. Our analysis highlights the importance of recognizing the institution of arranged marriages in any analysis of Indian marriage markets.

Keywords: Inter caste marriages; Education; Arranged marriage institution; Caste; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 I21 J12 J16 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Working Paper: Whose Education Matters? An Analysis Of Inter Caste Marriages In India (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:176:y:2020:i:c:p:619-633

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2020.02.011

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