演講者簡介 : William Chen got his Ph.D. in Economics from University of Chicago in 1991. He is currently serving as Associate Professor of Faculty of Business and Economics at University of Hong Kong. His research interest is in labor economics and applied price theory.
演講摘要 : Throughout history, marriage has often been accompanied by substantial exchange of wealth. The practice of dowry-giving, in particular, has shown considerable diversity across cultures and over time. In my earlier works, I suggested that dowry can be considered a pre-mortem bequest by a woman's parents to her at the time of her wedding, which can help her establish her position and safeguard her welfare in the new conjugal household. This hypothesis is, however, not consistent with the dominant view in the Asian subcontinent, where inflating dowry is now considered a social evil responsible for the plight and even deaths of many women. Despite these apparently polar opposite views of dowry, some recent studies have suggested that dowry, as practiced in India today, is not a homogeneous transfer, but is instead a combination of different transactions serving different functions. In this paper, I use a survey data set from India to decompose the transfer into various components, and identify their effects on the status of the wife within the household. It is found that once the endogeneity of marital transfers has been accounted for, a larger transfer from the bride’s parents will indeed enhance her decision-making role. This suggests an outright ban on dowry may not necessarily serve the interest of women in India.
