Preferences and Beliefs in the Marriage Market for Young Brides
77 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2019 Last revised: 11 Mar 2019
Date Written: March 2019
Abstract
Rajasthani women typically leave school early and marry young. We develop a novel discrete choice methodology using hypothetical vignettes to elicit average parental preferences over a daughter's education and age of marriage, and subjective beliefs about the evolution of her marriage market prospects. We find parents have a strong preference for delaying a daughter's marriage until eighteen but no further. Conditional on a marriage match, parents place little intrinsic value on a daughter's education. However, they believe the probability of receiving a good marriage offer increases strongly with a daughter's education but deteriorates quickly with her age on leaving school.
Keywords: early marriage, education, subjective expectations
JEL Classification: I26, J12, J16
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation