Moving Women: Household Composition, Labor Demand and Crop Choice

Isaac Mbiti, Brown University

Analysis of the Indian census has shown that female marital migration accounts for the majority of the spatial mobility in India. Using a unique panel dataset, I estimate the effect of increases in the value of female labor on women’s marriage market outcomes. Female labor is more valuable in rice farming than wheat farming. I exploit rainfall shocks across rice farming households and wheat farming households to identify the effect of female labor productivity on the marriage market. Consistent with a model of household composition and crop choice in the presence of imperfect markets for female labor, I find that increases in female labor productivity are associated with decreases in the marriage rate of prime age females. Moreover, when female labor productivity is high, dowries paid out by the bride’s family households also decline, indicating a rise in the bargaining power of the bride’s family during dowry negotiations.