Matching across Markets: An Economic Analysis of Cross-Border Marriage

Severe gender imbalances coupled with stark income differences across countries are driving an increase in cross-border marriages in many Asian countries. I theoretically and empirically study who marries whom and how couples allocate marital surplus in Taiwanese and Vietnamese marriage markets. I find that Taiwanese men are selected from the middle level of the human capital distribution and that Vietnamese women are positively selected for cross-border marriages. I show that changes in the costs of cross-border marriage affect the welfare of Taiwanese and Vietnamese who do not participate in cross-border marriages by altering marriage rates, matching partners, and intrahousehold allocations.