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The Bridal Income and Education Effects on the Dowry

Murat, Jenny LU (2013) NEKH01 20131
Department of Economics
Abstract
This thesis studies the relationship between the magnitude of the dowry and the bride’s education and income. Dowry is defined the gifts transferred along with the bride from the bride’s natal family to the groom’s household at the time of marriage. Gifts are traditionally also given from the groom household to the bride, the bride who will belong to the groom household after marriage. India has a long tradition of practicing dowry, and is therefore the host for this study. Dowry payments have come to be known as the number one reason for parents to rather want sons than daughters. The magnitude of the dowry is huge, this thesis confirm Rao’s (1993) results that the dowry sometimes amounts to six times the annual income of the bridal... (More)
This thesis studies the relationship between the magnitude of the dowry and the bride’s education and income. Dowry is defined the gifts transferred along with the bride from the bride’s natal family to the groom’s household at the time of marriage. Gifts are traditionally also given from the groom household to the bride, the bride who will belong to the groom household after marriage. India has a long tradition of practicing dowry, and is therefore the host for this study. Dowry payments have come to be known as the number one reason for parents to rather want sons than daughters. The magnitude of the dowry is huge, this thesis confirm Rao’s (1993) results that the dowry sometimes amounts to six times the annual income of the bridal household, which has negative impact on the savings patterns of the household. Data were collected from interviews I conducted in 2013 with households located in a rural village in Karnataka, South India. All 96 weddings included were conducted within the last five years. OLS-regressions were conducted to discern whether the bride’s education and income are significant determinants on the magnitude of the dowry. Three different regressions were executed with the net dowry, the gifts from the bridal household and the groom household as dependent variables. Several explanatory variables, which capture the characteristics of the spouses and their households, were included. Based on the results from the regressions we conclude that the income of the bride has significant negative effect on the net dowry and gifts given by the bridal household, while her education is insignificant for all three equations. The results support Becker’s (1981) theory of marriage payments occurring to adjust for the inflexibilities in the division of household commodities. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Murat, Jenny LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKH01 20131
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Dowry, Female Education, Female Income, Marriage Payments, Household Income
language
English
id
4076199
date added to LUP
2013-10-07 15:53:06
date last changed
2013-10-07 15:53:06
@misc{4076199,
  abstract     = {{This thesis studies the relationship between the magnitude of the dowry and the bride’s education and income. Dowry is defined the gifts transferred along with the bride from the bride’s natal family to the groom’s household at the time of marriage. Gifts are traditionally also given from the groom household to the bride, the bride who will belong to the groom household after marriage. India has a long tradition of practicing dowry, and is therefore the host for this study. Dowry payments have come to be known as the number one reason for parents to rather want sons than daughters. The magnitude of the dowry is huge, this thesis confirm Rao’s (1993) results that the dowry sometimes amounts to six times the annual income of the bridal household, which has negative impact on the savings patterns of the household. Data were collected from interviews I conducted in 2013 with households located in a rural village in Karnataka, South India. All 96 weddings included were conducted within the last five years. OLS-regressions were conducted to discern whether the bride’s education and income are significant determinants on the magnitude of the dowry. Three different regressions were executed with the net dowry, the gifts from the bridal household and the groom household as dependent variables. Several explanatory variables, which capture the characteristics of the spouses and their households, were included. Based on the results from the regressions we conclude that the income of the bride has significant negative effect on the net dowry and gifts given by the bridal household, while her education is insignificant for all three equations. The results support Becker’s (1981) theory of marriage payments occurring to adjust for the inflexibilities in the division of household commodities.}},
  author       = {{Murat, Jenny}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Bridal Income and Education Effects on the Dowry}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}