Intergenerational Consequences of Early Age Marriages of Girls

Effect on Children’s Human Capital

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20473608
AutoresSheetal Sekhri (0009-0004-9419-8173, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA, autor de correspondencia), Sisir Debnath (0000-0001-8395-8836, Indian School of Business)
Año2014
Volumen50
Número12
Páginas1670-1686
Fecha de publicación2014-08-30
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Development Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-0388 • E-ISSN: 1743-9140
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00220388.2014.936397
OpenAlexW2057195010
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas38
Referencias citadas14

We use nationally representative data from India on test scores in an instrumental variable framework to identify the effects of early age marriages of girls on the human capital of their children. Early age marriages reduce mother’s educational attainment, which can adversely impact the education outcomes of their children. On the other hand, better marriage prospects of young brides may compensate and improve children’s educational outcomes by way of resource provision. Consequently, the effect of early age marriages of girls on their children is theoretically ambiguous and warrants an empirical examination. In our empirical analysis, we use variation in age at menarche to instrument for age at marriage. Our estimates show that a delay of one year in the age at marriage of the mother increases the probability of being able to do the most challenging arithmetic and reading tasks on the administered test by 3.5 percentage points

Demographic economics · Developmental psychology · Economic growth · Economics · Educational attainment · Human capital · Instrumental variable · Menarche · Political science · Reading (process) · Sociology · Test (biology) · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Global Maternal and Child Health · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology