IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/deveco/v149y2021ics0304387820301553.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Here waits the bride? The effect of Ethiopia's child marriage law

Author

Listed:
  • McGavock, Tamara

Abstract

Child marriage is still common in the developing world: in 2012, one in three women was married by age 18, with more than 10% married before age 15. Beginning in 2000, Ethiopia's semi-autonomous regions raised the legal minimum age of marriage from 15 to 18. This study leverages the natural experiment arising from the staggered roll out of the policy in a difference-in-differences and event study framework. The results suggest that the reform delayed women's marriage, and in particular delayed marriages of girls under 16 by about 17 percent (6.8 percentage points) in areas where early marriage was more common prior to the reform. However, the effect of the reform, though larger, is insignificant among women belonging to ethnic groups with the strongest norms toward early marriage. Women's fertility was delayed and may be lower over their lifetimes.

Suggested Citation

  • McGavock, Tamara, 2021. "Here waits the bride? The effect of Ethiopia's child marriage law," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:149:y:2021:i:c:s0304387820301553
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102580
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387820301553
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102580?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fafchamps, Marcel & Quisumbing, Agnes, 2005. "Assets at marriage in rural Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 1-25, June.
    2. Yoav Benjamini & Abba M. Krieger & Daniel Yekutieli, 2006. "Adaptive linear step-up procedures that control the false discovery rate," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 93(3), pages 491-507, September.
    3. Esther Duflo, 2012. "Women Empowerment and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1051-1079, December.
    4. Diva Dhar & Tarun Jain & Seema Jayachandran, 2022. "Reshaping Adolescents' Gender Attitudes: Evidence from a School-Based Experiment in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(3), pages 899-927, March.
    5. Karthik Muralidharan & Nishith Prakash, 2017. "Cycling to School: Increasing Secondary School Enrollment for Girls in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 321-350, July.
    6. Carolina Castilla, 2018. "Political role models and child marriage in India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 1409-1431, November.
    7. Angus Deaton, 2010. "Instruments, Randomization, and Learning about Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 424-455, June.
    8. Oriana Bandiera & Niklas Buehren & Robin Burgess & Markus Goldstein & Selim Gulesci & Imran Rasul & Munshi Sulaiman, 2020. "Women's Empowerment in Action: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Africa," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 210-259, January.
    9. Simon Freyaldenhoven & Christian Hansen & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2019. "Pre-event Trends in the Panel Event-Study Design," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(9), pages 3307-3338, September.
    10. Esther Duflo & Pascaline Dupas & Michael Kremer, 2015. "Education, HIV, and Early Fertility: Experimental Evidence from Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(9), pages 2757-2797, September.
    11. Abhijit Banerjee & Rukmini Banerji & James Berry & Esther Duflo & Harini Kannan & Shobhini Mukerji & Marc Shotland & Michael Walton, 2017. "From Proof of Concept to Scalable Policies: Challenges and Solutions, with an Application," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 73-102, Fall.
    12. Lucia Corno & Nicole Hildebrandt & Alessandra Voena, 2020. "Age of Marriage, Weather Shocks, and the Direction of Marriage Payments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(3), pages 879-915, May.
    13. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    14. Chicoine, Luke, 2019. "Schooling with learning: The effect of free primary education and mother tongue instruction reforms in Ethiopia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 94-107.
    15. Stopnitzky, Yaniv, 2017. "No toilet no bride? Intrahousehold bargaining in male-skewed marriage markets in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 269-282.
    16. M. Fafchamps & A. R. Quisumbing, 2002. "Control and Ownership of Assets Within Rural Ethiopian Households," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(6), pages 47-82.
    17. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano & Nathan Nunn, 2011. "Fertility and the Plough," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 499-503, May.
    18. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano & Nathan Nunn, 2013. "On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(2), pages 469-530.
    19. Sarah Baird & Jed Friedman & Norbert Schady, 2011. "Aggregate Income Shocks and Infant Mortality in the Developing World," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(3), pages 847-856, August.
    20. Adrienne M. Lucas & Isaac M. Mbiti, 2012. "Access, Sorting, and Achievement: The Short-Run Effects of Free Primary Education in Kenya," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 226-253, October.
    21. Eliana Carranza, 2014. "Soil Endowments, Female Labor Force Participation, and the Demographic Deficit of Women in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 197-225, October.
    22. Leonardo Bursztyn & Alessandra L. González & David Yanagizawa-Drott, 2020. "Misperceived Social Norms: Women Working Outside the Home in Saudi Arabia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(10), pages 2997-3029, October.
    23. Justin Wolfers, 2006. "Did Unilateral Divorce Laws Raise Divorce Rates? A Reconciliation and New Results," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1802-1820, December.
    24. Duflo, Esther & Dupas, Pascaline & Kremer, Michael & Sinei, Samuel, 2006. "Education and HIV/AIDS prevention : evidence from a randomized evaluation in Western Kenya," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4024, The World Bank.
    25. Dana Rotz, 2016. "Why Have Divorce Rates Fallen?: The Role of Women’s Age at Marriage," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(4), pages 961-1002.
    26. Chari, A.V. & Heath, Rachel & Maertens, Annemie & Fatima, Freeha, 2017. "The causal effect of maternal age at marriage on child wellbeing: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 42-55.
    27. Pierre-Andre Chiappori & Bernard Fortin & Guy Lacroix, 2002. "Marriage Market, Divorce Legislation, and Household Labor Supply," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(1), pages 37-72, February.
    28. Mariaflavia Harari, 2019. "Women’s Inheritance Rights and Bargaining Power: Evidence from Kenya," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(1), pages 189-238.
    29. Sarah Baird & Ephraim Chirwa & Craig McIntosh & Berk Özler, 2010. "The short‐term impacts of a schooling conditional cash transfer program on the sexual behavior of young women," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(S1), pages 55-68, September.
    30. Ambrus, Attila & Field, Erica, 2008. "Early Marriage, Age of Menarche, and Female Schooling Attainment in Bangladesh," Scholarly Articles 3200264, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    31. Sheetal Sekhri & Sisir Debnath, 2014. "Intergenerational Consequences of Early Age Marriages of Girls: Effect on Children's Human Capital," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(12), pages 1670-1686, December.
    32. Hoyt Bleakley, 2010. "Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 1-45, April.
    33. Luke Chicoine, 2021. "Free Primary Education, Fertility, and Women’s Access to the Labor Market: Evidence from Ethiopia," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 35(2), pages 480-498.
    34. Mary Hallward-Driemeier & Lant Pritchett, 2015. "How Business Is Done in the Developing World: Deals versus Rules," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 121-140, Summer.
    35. Gray, Jeffrey S, 1998. "Divorce-Law Changes, Household Bargaining, and Married Women's Labor Supply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 628-642, June.
    36. Kumar, Neha & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2015. "Policy Reform toward Gender Equality in Ethiopia: Little by Little the Egg Begins to Walk," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 406-423.
    37. Alberto Alesina & Benedetta Brioschi & Eliana La Ferrara, 2021. "Violence Against Women: A Cross‐cultural Analysis for Africa," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(349), pages 70-104, January.
    38. Martha J. Bailey, 2006. "More Power to the Pill: The Impact of Contraceptive Freedom on Women's Life Cycle Labor Supply," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(1), pages 289-320.
    39. Madajewicz, Malgosia & Pfaff, Alexander & van Geen, Alexander & Graziano, Joseph & Hussein, Iftikhar & Momotaj, Hasina & Sylvi, Roksana & Ahsan, Habibul, 2007. "Can information alone change behavior? Response to arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 731-754, November.
    40. Erica Field & Attila Ambrus, 2008. "Early Marriage, Age of Menarche, and Female Schooling Attainment in Bangladesh," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 881-930, October.
    41. Rebecca M. Blank & Kerwin Kofi Charles & James M. Sallee, 2009. "A Cautionary Tale about the Use of Administrative Data: Evidence from Age of Marriage Laws," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 128-149, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhu, Chen & Xia, Yuqing & Liu, Qing & Hou, Bojun, 2023. "Deregulation and green innovation: Does cultural reform pilot project matter," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 84-105.
    2. Yuanxin Li & Xinmiao Zhou & Huihong Liu & Jia Wu, 2024. "Incentive or Barrier: Evidence from Environmental Policy and Corporate Sustainability in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-34, December.
    3. Siwan Anderson & Chris Bidner, 2021. "An Institutional Perspective on the Economics of the Family," Discussion Papers dp21-14, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    4. Kidman, Rachel & Raub, Amy & Martin, Alfredo & Bhuwania, Pragya & Bose, Bijetri & Heymann, Jody, 2024. "Reducing child marriage in sub-Saharan Africa: Evaluating the joint potential of protective marriage and education policies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    5. Ren, Shenggang & Wu, Yanping & Zhao, Li & Du, Lei, 2024. "Third-party environmental information disclosure and firms' carbon emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    6. Musa Hasen Ahmed, 2024. "University expansion and female adolescents’ educational attainment in Ethiopia," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 417-448, August.
    7. Lisa Cameron & Diana Contreras Suarez & Susan Wieczkiewicz, 2023. "Child marriage: using the Indonesian family life survey to examine the lives of women and men who married at an early age," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 725-756, September.
    8. Katy Bergstrom & Berk Özler, 2023. "Improving the Well-Being of Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(2), pages 179-212.
    9. Minxin Zuo & Tao Wu, 2022. "Does Environmental Credit Rating Promote Green Innovation in Enterprises? Evidence from Heavy Polluting Listed Companies in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-15, October.
    10. Alberto Posso & Udeni De Silva Perera & Ankita Mishra, 2021. "Community‐level health programs and child labor: Evidence from Ethiopia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 2995-3015, December.
    11. Chen, Qifei & Wang, Meng, 2022. "Opening of high-speed rail and the consumer service industry: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 31-45.
    12. Sun, Chuanwang & Tie, Ying & Yu, Lili, 2024. "How to achieve both environmental protection and firm performance improvement: Based on China's carbon emissions trading (CET) policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    13. Baten, Joerg & de Pleijt, Alexandra M., 2022. "Female autonomy generated successful long-term human capital development: Evidence from 16th to 19th century Europe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    14. Song, Jinbo & Nie, Rong & Yuan, Hehui & Gao, Jingxin, 2023. "Does the renovation of waste-to-energy incineration plants attenuate the housing price gradient? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in Shenzhen, China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    15. Shaoyan Yang & Duodong Ding & Churen Sun, 2022. "Does Innovative City Policy Improve Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-30, October.
    16. Zhu, Chen & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "The effects of low-carbon pilot policy on technological innovation: Evidence from prefecture-level data in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    17. Tongyue Zhang & Mengyang Hou & Liqi Chu & Lili Wang, 2022. "Can the Establishment of National Key Ecological Function Areas Enhance Vegetation Carbon Sink? A Quasi-Natural Experiment Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-21, September.
    18. Huaxing Wang & Chuan Chen & Zhiqiao Xiong & Dandan Li, 2023. "How to Achieve Carbon Neutrality in Cities? Evidence from China’s Low-Carbon Cities Development," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
    19. Rokicki, Slawa, 2021. "Impact of family law reform on adolescent reproductive health in Ethiopia: A quasi-experimental study," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    20. Zhou, Xiaoxiao & Dai, Mengsi & Liu, Li, 2024. "Green credit, carbon emission trading and corporate green innovation: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    21. Zha, Donglan & Jiang, Pansong & Zhang, Chaoqun & Xia, Dan & Cao, Yang, 2023. "Positive synergy or negative synergy: An assessment of the carbon emission reduction effect of renewable energy policy mixes on China's power sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    22. repec:ags:aaea22:335954 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Collin, Matthew & Talbot, Theodore, 2023. "Are age-of-marriage laws enforced? Evidence from developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    24. Rachel Cassidy & Anaya Dam & Wendy Janssens & Umair Kiani & Karlijn Morsink, 2024. "Targeting men, women or both to reduce child marriage," IFS Working Papers W24/23, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    25. McGavock, Tamara & Novak, Lindsey, 2023. "Now, Later, or Never? Evidence of the effect of weather shocks on female genital cutting in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cristina Bellés-Obreroy & María Lombardi, 2020. "Will you marry me, later? Age-of-marriage laws and child marriage in Mexico," Department of Economics Working Papers wp_gob_2020_11, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.
    2. Rachel Cassidy & Anaya Dam & Wendy Janssens & Umair Kiani & Karlijn Morsink, 2024. "Targeting men, women or both to reduce child marriage," IFS Working Papers W24/23, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    3. Baten, Joerg & de Pleijt, Alexandra M., 2022. "Female autonomy generated successful long-term human capital development: Evidence from 16th to 19th century Europe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    4. Lucia Corno & Nicole Hildebrandt & Alessandra Voena, 2020. "Age of Marriage, Weather Shocks, and the Direction of Marriage Payments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(3), pages 879-915, May.
    5. Hélène Giacobino & Elise Huillery & Bastien Michel & Mathilde Sage, 2022. "Schoolgirls Not Brides: Secondary Education as a Shield Against Child Marriage," Working Papers DT/2022/01, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    6. Adams-Prassl, Abigail & Andrew, Alison, 2019. "Preferences and Beliefs in the Marriage Market for Young Brides," CEPR Discussion Papers 13567, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Siwan Anderson & Chris Bidner, 2021. "An Institutional Perspective on the Economics of the Family," Discussion Papers dp21-14, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    8. Abi Adams & Alison Andrew, 2019. "Preferences and beliefs in the marriage market for young brides," IFS Working Papers W19/05, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    9. Rachel Cassidy & Anaya Dam & Wendy Janssens & Umair Kiani & Karlijn Morsink, 2022. "Father of the bride, or steel magnolias? Targeting men, women or both to reduce child marriage," IFS Working Papers W22/50, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. La Mattina, Giulia & Shemyakina, Olga N., 2024. "Growing up amid armed conflict: Women's attitudes toward domestic violence," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 645-662.
    11. Delprato, Marcos, 2023. "Children and adolescents educational gender gaps across the lifecourse in sub-Saharan Africa: On the role of mothers' lack of empowerment as a barrier for girls' educational performance," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    12. Dey, Subhasish & Ghosal, Tanisha, 2021. "Can Conditional Cash Transfer Defer Child Marriage? Impact of Kanyashree Prakalpa in West Bengal, India," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1333, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    13. Naveen Sunder, 2019. "Marriage Age, Social Status, and Intergenerational Effects in Uganda," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(6), pages 2123-2146, December.
    14. Katy Bergstrom & Berk Özler, 2023. "Improving the Well-Being of Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(2), pages 179-212.
    15. Dan Anderberg & Rachel Cassidy & Wendy Janssens & Anaya Dam & Morsink Karlijn & Anouk van Veldhoven, 2024. "Keeping the peace whilst getting your way: Information, persuasion and intimate partner violence," IFS Working Papers W24/22, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    16. Corno, Lucia & Voena, Alessandra, 2023. "Child marriage as informal insurance: Empirical evidence and policy simulations," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    17. Le, Dung D. & Molina, Teresa & Ibuka, Yoko & Goto, Rei, 2024. "The Intergenerational Health Effects of Child Marriage Bans," IZA Discussion Papers 17089, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Giulia La Mattina & Olga N. Shemyakina, 2017. "Domestic Violence and Childhood Exposure to Armed Conflict: Attitudes and Experiences," HiCN Working Papers 255, Households in Conflict Network.
    19. M. Niaz Asadullah & Zaki Wahhaj, 2019. "Early Marriage, Social Networks and the Transmission of Norms," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(344), pages 801-831, October.
    20. Francesca Marchetta & David E. Sahn, 2016. "The Role of Education and Family Background in Marriage, Childbearing, and Labor Market Participation in Senegal," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(2), pages 369-403.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:149:y:2021:i:c:s0304387820301553. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/devec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.