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Education and Freedom of Choice: Evidence from Arranged Marriages in Vietnam

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen C. Smith
  • M. Shahe Emran

    (Department of Economics/Institute for International Economic Policy, George Washington University)

  • Fenohasina Maret

    (Department of Economics, George Washington University)

Abstract

Using household data from Vietnam, we provide evidence on the causal effects of education on freedom of spouse choice. We use war disruptions and spatial indicators of schooling supply as instruments. The point estimates indicate that a year of additional schooling reduces the probability of an arranged marriage by about 14 percentage points for an individual with 8 years of schooling. We also estimate bounds that do not rely on the exact exclusion restrictions (lower bound is 6-7 percentage points). The impact of education is strong for women, but much weaker for men.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen C. Smith & M. Shahe Emran & Fenohasina Maret, 2009. "Education and Freedom of Choice: Evidence from Arranged Marriages in Vietnam," Working Papers 2009-15, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2009-15
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. The Relationship Between Education and Arranged Marriages
      by Ariel Goldring in Free Market Mojo on 2010-10-07 16:00:49
    2. Utbildning och tvångsäktenskap
      by Niclas Berggren in Nonicoclolasos on 2010-10-12 16:30:25

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    3. Anukriti, S & Dasgupta, Shatanjaya, 2017. "Marriage Markets in Developing Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 10556, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Arranged Marriage; Education; Schooling; Freedom of choice; Development; Vietnam; Social Interactions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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