Location: 360 Heady Hall

Description: Liyuan Ma
"How does dowry work in the marriage market in contemporary China with imbalanced sex ratio?"

Abstract: We provide theory and evidence about how dowry payment by the bride’s parents affects the quality of the husband their daughter married and how the dowry paid varies with the sex ratio for marriageable-aged men and women in local area. A two-sided search model in the marriage market is set up. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016, we find that for the potential bride with similar attributes in the marriage market, dowry can significantly increase the groom’s quality she married. High educated bride’s parents are inclined to pay more dowry to help attract the groom than poor bride’s parents since they may have higher searching cost. We also find that sex ratio could significantly reduce the optimal dowry paid and sex ratio could also increase the quality of husband the bride wants to marry with even though the effect is less significant.

Contact Person: John V. Winters