Payments between families at the time of marriage existed during the history of most developed countries and are currently pervasive in many areas of the developing world. These payments can be substantial enough to affect the welfare of women and a society's distribution of wealth. Recent estimates document transfers per marriage amounting to six times the annual household income in South Asia (Rao, 1993), and four times in sub-Saharan Africa (Dekker and Hoogeveen, 2002). This paper first establishes some basic facts about the prevalence and magnitude of marriage payments. It then discusses how such patterns vary across countries depending upon economic conditions, societal structures, institutions, and family characteristics. Such payments have also evolved within societies over time. For example, in some periods such payments have risen sharply. In some cases, payments have shifted from the grooms' sides to the brides', and vice versa. Also, property rights over such payments have sometimes shifted between marrying partners and parental generations. Economists, who have only recently begun to work on the topic, have focused on explaining these facts. The second part of the paper addresses this economic literature. Though considerable insight into many of the facts has been gained, many of the existing economic explanations are weakly convincing, and many puzzles remain. One crucial difficulty is that solid data in this field have been extremely rare. The descriptions of marriage payments in this paper are synthesized from a patchwork of studies across periods, places, and even epochs, and there are doubtless numerous cases which remain undocumented. Thus, the paper

/pdf/the-economics-of-dowry-and-brideprice-45qmm2n0te.pdf

The Economics of Dowry and Brideprice

▪ Abstract The human body—and its parts—has long been a target for commodification within myriad cultural settings. A discussion of commodification requires that one consider, first, the significance of the body within anthropology and, second, what defines a body “part.” After exploring these initial questions, this article outlines dominant theoretical approaches to commodification within anthropology, with Mauss and Marx figuring prominently. The discussion then turns to historically well-documented forms of body commodification: These include slavery and other oppressive labor practices; female reproduction; and the realms of sorcery and endocannibalism. An analysis here uncovers dominant established approaches that continue to drive current studies. The remainder of this article concerns emergent biotechnologies, whose application in clinical and other related scientific arenas marks a paradigmatic shift in anthropological understandings of the commodified, fragmented body. The following contexts are...

The Commodification of the Body and its Parts

THIS new edition of a masterly work should be welcomed by all who take an interest in the study of primitive man, a study which, it is no paradox to say, has more practical bearing than academic history on the social problems of the future. Before his death Robertson Smith made corrections and added notes to the first edition of 1885, which are now incorporated. As anthropologists and orientalists know, the essay is an application of the theories of J. F. McLennan to early Arabia, conducted with the originality, insight, logical clearness and brilliance of exposition which are inseparable from the name of Robertson Smith. Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia. W. Robertson Smith. New Edition, with Additional Notes by the Author and by Prof. I. Goldziher, Budapest. Edited by Stanley A. Cook, M.A. Pp. xxii + 324. (London: A. and C. Black, 1903.) Price 10s. 6d.

Kinship and Marriage

Marrying individuals' consent has been requirement for marriage in Europe since the Middle Ages - in most of the rest of the world parental consent reigned until at least until the 1950s This paper investigates the role of consent in marriage for intra-household allocation of resources and growth We argue that a shift from parental to individual consent moves resources in the same direction, favouring young men and young women over old men If young adults have greater incentives to invest in child human capital than the old (who will be around fewer periods), this may impact on growth We formulate a simple endogenous growth model capturing these aspects

Individual vs. Parental Consent in Marriage: Implications for Intra-Household Resource Allocation and Growth

This paper argues that love – as opposed to arranged – marriage promotes growth. Men pay for marriage, but who receives and pays the bride-price differs between the two marriage institutions. Typically, under love marriage the groom pays his bride, while under arranged marriage the groom (or his father) pays the bride’s father. Clearly, love marriage directs resources from the father of the bride to the bride. Moreover, we argue that love marriage may redistribute resources from father to son. If young (v. old) and women (v. men) are more prone to save or invest in the human capital of children, then love marriage promotes physical or human capital accumulation. If so, the adoption and adherence to love marriage in Europe, starting in the 8th century at the instigation of the Catholic Church, may have been a factor in Europe’s economic ascent. ∗We thank Philippe Aghion, Tore Ellingsen, Jonathan Heathcote, Alessandro Lizzeri, Debraj Ray, Paul Schultz; seminar participants at Columbia, New York and Yale University, Boston College, and University College London; and conference participants at the Population and Economic Growth Conference, Brown University, April 13 and 14, 2002. †Columbia University, le93@columbia.edu ‡Concordia University, nippe@alcor.concordia.ca

/pdf/implications-of-marriage-institutions-for-redistribution-and-2ezty30aex.pdf

Implications of Marriage Institutions for Redistribution and Growth

A revised consideration of bride-price and dowry is presented. Marriage payments are viewed as status symbols and mechanisms of fluidity relating to stratification systems. An inability to carry out exchange "in kind" (i.e., bride for bride) appears in cases of marriage between groups of different status and is shaped by cultural principles of stratification. The phenomena of hypergamy, hypogamy, and isogamy, along with different exchange currencies such as money, prestige, services, and patronage, stress the importance of the cultural component. All are solutions to the same structural problem. The solution characteristic of Arab Muslim society stems from the symbolic linking of the ruling hierarchy with the roles of the sexes; the male roles are the preserve of the elite, while the symbol of subjection to authority means effemination. Hypergamy implies that daughters, as representatives of lower strata, move upward. Elite groups are distinguished by the ability to do away with any payments, viz., to pro...

Bride-Price Reconsidered [and Comments]

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Bride-Price Reconsidered [and Comments]