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Where have all the brides gone? Son preference and marriage in India over the twentieth century

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  • Bishnupriya Gupta

Abstract

type="main"> Marriage is universal for women in India, but the marriage rate for men varies across regions, where the region is a proxy for shared cultural norms. A preference for sons results in a biased sex ratio towards men and creates a shortage of brides in the marriage market. Using the Indian census of 1931, the article finds that son preference was a regional phenomenon and led to a low marriage rate for men. Using caste-level information, the article finds no evidence that men from the upper castes enjoyed an advantage in the marriage market as the theoretical literature predicts. The regional differences in gender bias and marriage market outcomes have persisted over the twentieth century and indicate the persistence of cultural values. The long-run changes show that the marriage squeeze has reduced the surplus of men in all regions; however, the regional differences in son preference and marriage outcomes were still the same in 2001.

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  • Bishnupriya Gupta, 2014. "Where have all the brides gone? Son preference and marriage in India over the twentieth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(1), pages 1-24, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:67:y:2014:i:1:p:1-24
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/1468-0289.12011
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    2. Serhii Maksymovych & William Appleman & Zurab Abramishvili, 2023. "Parental gender preference in the Balkans and Scandinavia: gender bias or differential costs?," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1-48, December.
    3. Leeson, Peter T. & Suarez, Paola A., 2017. "Child brides," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 40-61.
    4. Augsburg, Britta & Baquero, Juan P. & Gautam, Sanghmitra & Rodriguez-Lesmes, Paul, 2023. "Sanitation and marriage markets in India: Evidence from the Total Sanitation Campaign," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    5. Fenske, James & Gupta, Bishnupriya & Neumann, Cora, 2022. "Missing women in Colonial India," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 613, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    6. Zurab Abramishvili & William Appleman & Sergii Maksymovych, 2019. "Parental Gender Preference in the Balkans and Scandinavia: Gender Bias or Differential Costs?," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp643, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    7. Bhaskar, Venkataraman, 2015. "The Demographic Transition and the Position of Women: A Marriage Market Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 10619, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Mehwish Ghulam Ali & Ashton De Silva & Sarah Sinclair & Ankita Mishra, 2022. "Gender preference at birth: A new measure for son preference based on stated preferences and observed measures of parents' fertility decisions," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-88, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Francisco J Beltrán Tapia & Francisco J Marco-Gracia, 2022. "Death, sex, and fertility: female infanticide in rural Spain, 1750–1950 [Son targeting fertility behaviour: some consequences and determinants]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(2), pages 234-254.
    10. Francisco J. Marco-Gracia & Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia & Víctor A. Luque de Haro, 2023. "Life and Death under Son Preference: Economic stress, Fertility and Early-life Mortality in Rural Spain,1800-1910," Working Papers 0240, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    11. Paola A. Suarez, 2018. "Child-bride marriage and female welfare," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 1-28, February.
    12. Helen Paul, 2015. "Editorial: Women in economic and social history: twenty-fifth anniversary of the Women's Committee of the Economic History Society," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(2), pages 1-17, May.
    13. Pim de Zwart & Jan Lucassen, 2020. "Poverty or prosperity in northern India? New evidence on real wages, 1590s–1870s," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(3), pages 644-667, August.
    14. Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia & Domingo Gallego, 2015. "Where are the missing girls? Gender discrimination in mid-19th century Spain," Working Papers 23, Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Cambridge.

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