Far Above Rubies: The Association Between Bride Price and Extramarital Sexual Relations in Uganda

David Bishai () and Shoshana Grossbard

No 2982, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The custom of bride price involves the payment of goods or cash from the groom’s family to the bride’s family at the time of marriage. We present a theory that views bride price as a payment in hedonic markets for marital fidelity. Data from a household survey in Uganda are used to test the theoretical prediction that payment of bride price will be associated with fewer non-marital sexual relationships for women. The data show a robust association between bride price payment and lower rates of non-marital sexual relationships for women but not for men.

Keywords: marriage; extra-marital relations; bride price; Uganda (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 I12 J13 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2007-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev and nep-mic
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published - published as 'Far above rubies: Bride price and extramarital sexual relations in Uganda' in: Journal of Population Economics, 2010, 23 (4), 1177 - 1187

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