Dowry and Wife's Welfare: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 107, No. 4, August 1999

Posted: 13 Oct 1999

See all articles by Junsen Zhang

Junsen Zhang

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

William M. Chan

The University of Hong Kong - School of Economics and Finance

Abstract

Becker attributes the existence of marital transfers to inflexibility in the division of joint product within the marriage. If that were the only reason, we would not have observed the coexistence of dowries and bride-prices. This paper offers an alternative analysis. While Becker's interpretation is retained for bride-prices, a dowry is now represented as a premortem bequest by altruistic parents for a daughter. It not only increases the wealth of the new conjugal household but also enhances the bargaining power of the bride in the allocation of output within that household, thereby safeguarding her welfare. Using micro data from Taiwan, we found that a dowry improves the bride's welfare whereas a bride-price has no effect. These empirical results support the theoretical predictions of the model.

JEL Classification: J12, J16

Suggested Citation

Zhang, Junsen and Chan, William M., Dowry and Wife's Welfare: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 107, No. 4, August 1999, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=169399

Junsen Zhang

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) - Department of Economics ( email )

Shatin, N.T.
Hong Kong
852-2609-8186 (Phone)
852-2603-5805 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/eco/staff/jszhang/jzhang.htm

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

William M. Chan (Contact Author)

The University of Hong Kong - School of Economics and Finance ( email )

8th Floor Kennedy Town Centre
23 Belcher's Street
Kennedy Town
Hong Kong
+85 2 2859 2192 (Phone)
+85 2 2548 1152 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
1,571
PlumX Metrics