Sex Ratios, Polygyny, and the Value of Women in Marriage: A Beckerian Approach

Shoshana Grossbard

No 8728, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: A central component of his theory of marriage Becker's Demand and Supply (D&S) models of marriage are also among the most unique models he pioneered. Here I provide an overview of Becker's analysis of the effects of sex ratios – the ratio of men to women in marriage markets – on individual consumption of married men and women, and indicate some of the ways that this analysis has been expanded and tested. Becker also used D&S analysis to develop his argument that polygyny benefits women and used the positive association between brideprice and polygyny as evidence. Relying on D&S models of marriage and based on the section of Becker's Treatise on the Family dealing with "price" rigidities in marriage it is shown that polygyny may be harmful to women. Furthermore, the positive association between brideprice and polygyny does not necessarily prove that women are better off under polygyny than under monogamy.

Keywords: bride price; sex ratios; Gary Becker; economics of marriage; polygyny (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14 pages
Date: 2014-12
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: Journal of Demographic Economics, 2015, 81(1), 13-25

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp8728.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Sex Ratios, Polygyny, and the Value of Women in Marriage - A Beckerian Approach (2015)
Journal Article: SEX RATIOS, POLYGYNY, AND THE VALUE OF WOMEN IN MARRIAGE––A BECKERIAN APPROACH (2015)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8728

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().