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  Economics

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  Consanguinity and Other Marriage Market Effects of a Wealth Shock in Bangladesh

  Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak

  This paper uses a wealth shock from the construction of a flood protection embankment in rural Bangladesh coupled with data on the universe of all 52

  000 marriage decisions between 1982 and 1996 to examine changes in marital prospects for households protected by the embankment relative to unprotected households living on the other side of the river. We use difference-in-difference specifications to document that brides from protected households commanded larger dowries

  married wealthier households

  and became less likely to marry biological relatives. Financial liquidity-constrained households appear to use within-family marriage (in which one can promise ex-post payments) as a form of credit to meet up-front dowry demands

  but the resultant wealth shock for households protected by the embankment relaxed this need to marry consanguineously. Our results shed light on the socioeconomic roots of consanguinity

  which carries health risks for offspring but can also carry substantial benefits for the families involved.\n

  Consanguinity and Other Marriage Market Effects of a Wealth Shock in Bangladesh

  Christina

  Peters

  Metropolitan State University of Denver

  Metropolitan State University of Denver

  Associate Professor of Economics

  Metropolitan State University of Denver

  Professor of Economics

  Metropolitan State University of Denver