Marriage payments and wives’ welfare: All you need is love

Article dans une revue: Bride price is essential to marriage in West Africa, and its impact on wives’ well-being in their marital life is a matter of debate. According to our data from Senegal, transfers to the bride’s family characterize approximately 85% of marriages. Furthermore, although this is largely ignored in the literature, these marriages are also characterized by the simultaneous existence of other marriage payments, which flow in different directions between the stakeholders. This paper studies the relationship between these multiple marriage payments and the well-being of the wife in her household. We use a unique survey that asks separate questions about the different types of marriage payments. We highlight the strength of the link between what is given to the bride herself and her welfare, as opposed to the looseness of the relation between this welfare and what is given to her family.

Auteur(s)

Rozenn Hotte, Sylvie Lambert

Revue
  • Journal of Development Economics
Date de publication
  • 2023
Mots-clés JEL
J12 J16 O55
Mots-clés
  • Bride price
  • Marriage
  • Women
  • Senegal
Pages
  • 103141
Version
  • 1
Volume
  • 164